Bulldogs’ baseball beats Buffaloes, Eagles

BOYCEVILLE  — Winning may not cure everything but it sure does help make you feel good.

After a 1-2 start to the conference and regular season, the Boyceville team put together back-to-back home wins on Evenson Field last week.

Boyceville followed a 1-run, 4-3 win over Pepin/Alma on Thursday, April 21 with a 3-0 shut out against Mondovi on Monday, April 25 to improve to 3-2 in conference and overall play and move into third place in the large Dunn-St. Croix baseball standings.

The Bulldogs will try to extend its recent win streak as it had a game in Plum City yesterday and will be back home for a non-conference tilt with Clear Lake on Friday and a large division contest with Colfax next Monday, May 2.

Mondovi

In a battle for sole possession of third place, Boyceville needed just three runs to beat Mondovi as senior Hunter Anderson was stellar in his starting pitcher debut.

Anderson went the full seven innings, scattering six Buffalo hits and striking out ten batters for the victory in his first trip to the mound in 2016.

“Hunter pitched a great game,” said Michael Roemhild, Boyceville head coach. “This was his first start of the year and he didn’t let us down. To go all seven innings, strike out 10 and only give up six hits…he deserved this win.”

The Bulldogs also played solid defense and generated just enough offense – six hits and three runs – at the right time to get the victory.

“Defensively, we backed Hunter up and didn’t have any errors,” said Roemhild. “As I have been telling our guys all along, if we play solid defense we will be in every game.”

“We struggled offensively,” admitted Roemhild. “But James Palmer had a nice hitting game and Max Engel ran the bases well which got us a big third inning run for some breathing room.”

Palmer went 2-for-3 to lead the Bulldogs. Anderson, Cooper Boesl, Luke Knudtson and Kyle Holden each had hits.

Boyceville scored single runs in the first, fifth and sixth inning for the win.

Anderson singled and scored in the first. Boesl did likewise in the fifth. Engel drew a lead-off walk in the seventh and then took advantage of a pair of Mondovi errors to score Boyceville’s final run.

Ryan Swartz took the loss for the Buffaloes.

Pepin/Alma

Boyceville needed a pair of rallies to nip the Eagles of Pepin/Alma 4-3 in eighth innings last Thursday, April 25 at Evenson Field.

Trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom-half of the third inning, the Bulldogs came up with three runs to take a one-run lead. Kyle Holden, Micadin Kahl and Hunter Anderson all single and scored.

Pepin/Alma tied the game with a single run in the top of the sixth. It would remain tied at three after seven innings of play, forcing extra innings to determine a victor.

Locals did not have to wait long as Boyceville scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

Brett Boda singled with one out and stretched it into a triple after an Eagles’ overthrow. Boda then scored the game-winner on another overthrown, this time from  the catcher to third base.

“We finally played as a team,” noted Coach Roemhild. “We only had one error which is the reason we won along with some great pitching.”

James Palmer started and pitched seven strong innings having just one earned run on seven hits. Hunter Anderson came on in relief in the eighth and pitched a scoreless and hitless inning to pick up the win.

Boyceville tallied nine hits with Palmer, Anderson and Cooper Boesl each getting a pair of hits.

“The guys were focused and wanted to prove that we are better than what the scores have shown this season,” added Roemhild.