Bulldogs open season with loss to Cumberland, win over Turtle Lake/Clayton
By Cara L. Dempski
BOYCEVILLE — The Bulldog batsmen opened their 2017 season with a pair of home games before hitting the road.
Boyceville played its season and home-opener April 4 against Cumberland, and suffered a 10-4 loss at the hands of the Beavers before taking a few days off and hosting the Turtle Lake/Clayton Bears April 7.
Coach Mike Roemhild said the Bears are a good team with a lot of talent, but his Bulldogs proved more talented still, winning handily 7-1.
The Boyceville team is now 1-1 overall. The Bulldogs were scheduled to take on Colfax at home April 10, but the game was postponed to a later date. They will take an April 13 road trip to Durand before going to Alma April 18.
Cumberland
The good news is that it is still early in the season, and the Bulldogs played a non-conference foe at home to get a feel for 2017.
The bad news is that Boyceville lost its April 4 match-up against the Cumberland Beavers, 10-4.
Junior Luke Knudtson expanded on last season’s hitting streak by recording three hits and a pair of RBIs in four trips to the plate. James Palmer and Kyle Holden earned an RBI apiece. Palmer also logged two hits and a run in four at-bats.
Cooper Boesl picked up a pair each of hits and runs in four trips to the plate, and Jaden Reisimer was up to bat three times and earned a hit and a walk.
Coach Michael Roemhild put four pitchers on the mound in the game. Palmer picked up a 5.25 ERA in two and two-thirds innings, and Brady Nye pitched for one and two-thirds innings with an 8.40 ERA. Boesl and Bryce Boda accounted for the other two and two-thirds innings pitched.
CUMBERLAND 10, BOYCEVILLE 4
Cumberland…………0 1 1 0 3 0 5 — 10
Boyceville……………0 0 2 0 0 0 2 — 4
Turtle Lake/Clayton
Talk about a turnaround.
The Bulldogs went from a 10-4 loss to Cumberland on Tuesday to taking credit for a 7-1 win against the Turtle Lake/Clayton Bears on Friday.
Coach Roemhild said his three pitchers trusted the defense behind them.
“I thought we played a pretty solid game,” Roemhild explained. “I would like to cut down on the errors and be a little more aggressive; all of that starts with our pitching.”
Senior James Palmer started out the night on the mound, and pitched four innings while giving only one hit and striking out six. Brady Nye took over for 1.1 innings and logged two hits and one run, though Roemhild notes it was not earned. Junior Bryce Boda closed the game by not allowing any hits or runs.
The pitching staff got help from the offense when players started chalking up runs.
Luke Knudtson lit a fire under the Bulldogs with a three-run homer in the fourth on his way to 3 RBIs for the night. It took until the seventh for the Boyceville batsmen to strike again, and then it was on some smart base running and well-executed plays.
“The seventh inning was the best I have seen from my team since I started coaching,” Roemhild stated. “It was a good victory for us.
Palmer, Boda, Kyle Holden and Jaden Reisimer all tacked on RBIs to lift the score to seven, while Micadin Kahl, Cooper Boesl, Palmer, Knudtson and Holden all crossed the plate to score in the game.
Palmer pitched .656 strike percentage, while Nye had a .629 and Boda was .500.
TURTLE LAKE/CLAYTON 1, BOYCEVILLE 7
Turtle Lake/Clayton…0 0 4 0 0 0 3 — 7
Boyceville………………0 0 0 0 1 0 0 — 1