Blue Earth’s Brayden Barnett raises a cloud of dust with his head-first slide while stealing second base in the bottom of the fifth inning in the Pirates’ 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Lake Royals.

The Minnesota Lake Royals scored four runs over the last two innings to rally for a 6-4 victory over the host Blue Earth Pirates in 13/60 League action at Veterans Field on Wednesday, June 11.

The Pirates struck first with one run in the bottom of the second inning courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Kane Malo and Ryan Madetzke.

They added another run in the second inning. Talan Priester was hit by a pitch and Parker Meyers hit a line-drive single to center field to put runners on first and second base with one out. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance a base. Priester then scored when Brandyn Olsen hit into a fielder’s choice to the shortstop with Meyers being tagged out advancing to third base.

The Royals tied the game when they scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Hayden Niebuhr lined a single to right field and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Payton See. Jared Grams reached on an error with Niebuhr holding up at second base. Another Pirates’ error allowed TJ Nowak to reach first safely and load the bases. A single by Eli Walters drove in both Niebuhr and Grams to tie the game at 2-2.

Blue Earth regained the lead with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Hunter Bleess led off the inning with a double to left field. After the next two Pirate batters struck out, Logan O’Hara brought Bleess home with a double to center field and the Pirates were on top 3-2.

After a scoreless seventh inning, Minnesota Lake pushed two runs across the plate in the top of the eighth inning to take a 4-3 lead.

Another Pirates’ error allowed See to reach first base and a single by Grams put runners on first and second base with no outs. It looked like Blue Earth might escape the inning unscathed when they got the next two Royals’ batters out. However, a single by Walters and another Blue Earth error on a ball hit by Jared Moore brought home two more runs and gave Minnesota Lake a one-run lead.

The Pirates tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs, Malo was hit by a pitch. With Noah Barnett pitch running for Malo, Madetzke reached on a ground ball error with Barnett holding up at second base. A line drive single to center field by O’Hara plated Barnett to tie the score at 4-4 heading into the ninth inning.

The Royals won the game when they scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning. E Sindelir led off the inning with a single to center field and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Niebuhr. A ground out to the shortstop by J Byam allowed Sindelir to reach third base.

With two outs, the Pirates issued an intentional walk to Grams. With Sindelir still at third base, Grams stole second base and an error by the Pirates allowed Sindelir to score the go-ahead run. A single by N Moore brought Grams home and gave Minnesota Lake a 6-4 lead.

Blue Earth’s Zach Schonrock led off the bottom of the ninth with a single but the next three Pirate batters were retired in order and the Royals went home with the 6-4 victory.

Taylor Davids pitched the first seven innings for the Pirates and gave up two unearned runs on three hits. He struck out five Royals and did not walk a batter.

Cody Sukalski took the loss after pitching the final two innings. He gave up four runs (two earned) on four hits while walking one batter and striking out one.

Nathan Moore picked up the win for the Royals. He allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits. He walked one batter and had seven strikeouts.

Madetzke and O’Hara each had two hits for Blue Earth and O’Hara also had two runs batted in.

Grams and Walters each had two hits for the Royals with Walters also driving in two runs.

The final statistics had the Pirates with four runs on eight hits. They committed six errors. The Royals had six runs on seven hits. They were charged with two errors.

The loss snapped Blue Earth’s four-game winning streak and gave them a season record of five wins and four losses. Minnesota Lake improved their overall record to 3-3.

Both teams are scheduled to be in action on Sunday, June 15, at 2 p.m. The Pirates will host the North Mankato Gators at Veterans Field while Minnesota Lake will be on the road at Lake Crystal to battle the Lakers.