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BB vs. Hamline

Baseball

Baseball winning streak hits five



The Yellowjacket baseball team has stretched its winning streak to five games following a pair of victories on Wednesday over teams that qualified for the 2011 NCAA tournament - Hamline University and Carthage College.  The Hamline game was Wednesday's regularly scheduled game, while the matchup with Carthage was a make-up game that was postponed on Sunday, March 18 due to rain.

Yellowjackets 8, Hamline 5
Box Score

The first game of the day between the Yellowjackets and the Pipers was one that will make coaches cringe, as the teams combined for ten errors on the day.  Both teams held multi-run leads, but an offensive explosion in the last of the eighth gave the Yellowjackets the lead and, eventually, the win.

With two outs in the bottom of the first Jeff Miller (Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) reached on an error.  He advanced to second on #T.J. Evanson's infield single and came around to score when Robbie Veith# drove a single to left-center to make it 1-0.  The Yellowjackets added to the lead in the bottom of the second.  Shaun Marshall (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater) tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a Joe Ahrens (Worthington, Minn./Worthington) sacrifice fly.  With two outs the Yellowjackets rallied for another run.  Tony Remund (Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids) singled and went to second on an error.  Wyatt Soderquist (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) followed with another base hit, scoring Remund to make it 3-0 after two.

Meanwhile, starter Mike Swanson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) was cruising through the first three innings, allowing just two baserunners - one on a single and one on a hit-batsman while picking up one strikeout.  That would all change in the top of the fourth.

The first three hitters reached base on a hit-by-pitch and two errors respectively.  With the bases loaded, Jordan Buck singled to left field, scoring the lead runner.  A second run came home when Marshall mishandled the ball in left field, the third Yellowjacket error of the inning, and suddenly it was 3-2 with two on and nobody out.  Swanson and the Yellowjacket defense grew more stout, however, and closed out the inning, maintaining the one-run lead.

Hamline took the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth. 

Buck led off with a walk and stole second.  He would come around to score on Daniel Zurbey's double and the game was tied.  Zurbey would come around to score on an RBI single to right field by Jordan Rubbelke and it was 4-3 Pipers.

The lead would go to 5-3 in the top of the seventh, and it was the same group from the previous inning that did the damage.  With two outs Buck walked and Zurbey reached on yet another Yellowjacket error.  Buck reached third on the error while Zurbey would wait briefly and then steal second, putting two runners in scoring position.  Rubbelke again singled to right field, scoring Buck to provide the two-run lead.  Zurbey also tried to score on the play, but he was gunned down at the plate on a perfect throw Tom Fairbanks (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) in right field.

Ahrens led off the Yellowjacket half of the seventh with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Weston Smith (Sioux Falls, S.D./Roosevelt).  Three batters later Soderquist punched a single through the right side, plating Smith and pulling the Yellowjackets to within one at 5-4.

After the Pipers went down in order in the top of the eighth, the Yellowjackets exploded for four runs and put the game away.

Evanson led off with a triple and scored when Veith followed with a base hit to tie the game 5-5.  Fairbanks then doubled, scoring Veith and the Yellowjackets were ahead for good.  Later, with Fairbanks on third and Peter Suska (Sobieski, Minn./Little Falls) on second, Remund reached on an error that scored both runners, making it an 8-5 game. 

In the ninth Cody Johnson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) walked a pair of runners, but got out of the inning with little difficulty and the Yellowjackets picked up the victory.

The Yellowjacket offense produced just nine hits in the game, led by Soderquist, Evanson and Veith who had two hits apiece.  Soderquist and Veith also drove in two runs each.

Swanson pitched six innings for the Yellowjackets, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits.  He walked two, hit two batters and struck out two.  Johnson came on in the seventh and went the rest of the way, picking up his first win of the year.  In three innings Johnson allowed a run on one hit with three walks.  He struck out four.

Rubbelke paced the offense for the Pipers, going 2-4 with two runs batted in. 

Yellowjackets 10, Carthage 2
Box Score

The second game of the day was a make-up game that was postponed on Sunday, with the Yellowjackets taking on Carthage College.  The Red Men entered the game ranked 13th in the nation, but the Yellowjackets had little difficulty in dispatching their ranked opponent.

Just as they did earlier in the day, the Yellowjackets drew first blood.  Remund was hit by a pitch leading off the game.  He would steal second and move to third on a balk.  Soderquist would follow with a walk and move into scoring position with his own steal of second.  Miller would reach on an error, scoring Remund to get the Yellowjackets on the board.  Later in the inning Veith flew out to right field, scoring Soderquist and it was 2-0 before the Red Men ever came to bat.

In the third Soderquist led off with a single and stole second.  He would come around to score on Miller's RBI single, pushing the Yellowjacket lead to 3-0.

The game went to 5-0 in the fourth.  Veith led off with a walk.  Fairbanks and Michael Doescher (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) followed with consecutive singles to left to load the bases.  Justin Haag (Big Lake, Minn./Big Lake) walked, forcing home a run to make it 4-0.  Fairbanks came across next on a Casey Dittel (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) sacrifice fly to close out the scoring for the inning.

The Yellowjackets pushed across two more runs in the fifth.  Soderquist walked and Miller followed with a single.  Evanson brought Soderquist home with a single to make it 6-0.  Later Fairbanks flew out, scoring Miller and it was 7-0.

In the seventh the Yellowjackets pushed three more runs across to hit double digits.  Haag led off with a walk, went to second on a sacrifice and took third on a wild pitch.  Remund walked and the hot-hitting Soderquist followed with an RBI single, scoring Haag.  Another wild pitch moved the runners up a base, and the Yellowjackets had two in scoring position.  Both Remund and Soderquist would score when Evanson singled to right field and the Yellowjackets were up 10-0.

Carthage finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning.  Mike Merritt singled with one out.  Following the second out of the inning, Nick Schmidlkofer walked and Kyle Pusateri reached on an error, loading the bases.  The next batter, Andrew Arenson, singled to left field, scoring two and breaking the shutout, making it a 10-2 game in favor of the Yellowjackets.

Both teams were able to get runners on base in the final three innings, but neither could push any runners across.

Soderquist, Miller and Evanson all had two hits for the Yellowjackets, who scattered nine hits in the game.  Soderquist scored four times, while Evanson drove in three.  Miller also had a pair of RBI.

Ethan Branum (Nisswa, Minn./Brainerd) got the start for the Yellowjackets and the lefty was masterful, tossing a complete game.  He allowed two runs, neither of which were earned, and scattered seven hits.  Branum had two walks and five strikeouts.

Arenson had Branum's number all evening long, going 4-4 and driving in both runs for Carthage.

The Yellowjackets (7-4, 0-0 WIAC) are off Thursday and will return to action on Friday, March 23 with a doubleheader against Luther College out of Decorah, Iowa.  First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. CDT.
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