Bulldog baseballers remain positive throughout tough season

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Boyceville baseball team had a trio of games this past week starting with a makeup game at home against Mondovi last Tuesday, May 7, then they traveled to Elk Mound Friday evening (May 10) for a doubleheader and finished at home Monday against Spring Valley.

Remake vs Mondovi

The Bulldogs played three innings against the Mondovi Buffaloes for a game that had been suspended due to darkness a week prior. The game started in the fifth inning with the Buffaloes on offense, the bases loaded and the score at 8-0 with the Bulldogs trailing.

With runners on the bases, Mondovi scored two additional runs in the fifth inning for a 10-0 lead. The Bulldogs were able to get the bats rolling and scored three runs in the fifth and four in the seventh. However, the Buffaloes continued with big hits and scored an additional run in the sixth and then eight in the seventh for a 19-7 final.

“In game two of the double header we made a lot of inexperienced mental mistakes. Our youth really showed through. Without those mistakes, it was a very competitive game. At the plate we were swinging the bat beyond our years, sticking with our fundamentals and good form. We only had two strikeouts and all the players put the stick on the ball, said coach Tim Engel. On the mound, Anderson who is a freshman came in after the break in an impossible situation and threw two and one-third quality innings and Lagerstrom came in and got the final two outs.”

BV in Elk Mound

The Bulldogs’ doubleheader of two, five inning games against the Mounders didn’t quite end in their favor as they lost 18-1 and 12-2.

According to coach Engel, “in game one, the Mounders jumped out to a 3-0 lead and our boys responded, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first off of the talented pitcher, Phillips. Our boys were patient and used good fundamentals at the plate. We collected five hits, but could not string them together to knock in a few more runs. Elk Mound hit our young pitching and we made plays where we could.”

The Bulldogs scored their one run in the fourth inning from Jordan Kuhn. Matt Leach hit a double to advance Kuhn to third and then Hunter Anderson grounded a hit to third to bring Kuhn home.

“In game two we started Anderson and he did a tremendous job, but again Elk Mound’s batters were on top of it and we made plays where we could,” said coach Engel.

Leach and Michael Lagerstrom scored the Bulldog’s two runs in the first inning after RBI’s from Nick Wathke and Jon Erickson.

Big loss to Spring Valley

The Bulldogs had a tough time against the Spring Valley Cardinals at home as they lost 15-0.

They did have three hits against Cardinal pitchers Remington Schneider and Sean Ortner. Leach, Wathke and Alex Lovett each made a connection with the ball.

“Spring Valley has a lot of veterans returning to their lineup and they played flawless baseball. They took advantage of our young pitching staff’s mistakes, hit the ball where we weren’t and we made some mistakes. You add that all together and it makes for a long night for the Bulldogs, explained coach Engel. These boys are close to playing solid, competitive Large Dunn-St.Croix baseball, they just need the innings. This is where the short season killed us, but we need to stay positive and regroup and play hard against St. Croix Central on Friday.”

The Bulldogs will host SCC for the doubleheader this Friday, May 17 starting at 4:00 p.m. They are then scheduled for another doubleheader on Monday, May 20 at home against Colfax.