​•Bad bat night at Madison, but a measure of revenge against Dumont

 

By Byron Higgin Mascot Sports Editor

 

Wednesday was a night when the Mudhens couldn’t get their bats moving — until it was too late. They lost, 5-4. But on Saturday they came back from a near disaster to win in extra innings and the smallest Mudhen of them all led the way, 5-4 in 10 innings.

 

The last time Minneota saw Dumont the Giants bounced the Mudhens out of the playoffs last fall.

But this time, on a hot, muggy Saturday afternoon, nobody wanted the Mudhen game to go into extra innings.

And it looked good, with Minneota leading 4-1 in the ninth inning.

But Dumont’s Nate Albrecht had different ideas.

Minneota reliever Henry Pesch served him a pitch he could hit and he socked it out of the ballpark for a three-run home run and 4-4 tie.

“We had a three-run lead but gave it up. But we came back to win,” said Assistant Manager Beau Buysse, who subbed for missing Manager Tyson Sonnenburg.

But never fear, the smallest of them all was here.

Preston Nuy, who already had two hits against Dumont, came up with the bases loaded in the 10th.

Nuy hit the ball hard to the shortstop  and Jake Leighton broke for home.

“He just beat the throw,” said Nuy.

Nuy’s second run batted in of the game gave the victory to the Mudhens, 5-4.

“I was just trying to make contact with the ball. The shortstop seemed to pause for a second before throwing it home but Jake beat the throw,” said Nuy.

Leighton recorded his second hit of the game in the 10th when, with one out, he singled. Adam Durfee walked and an error loaded the bases, giving Nuy a chance to win the game for the Mudhens.

Albrecht, who was also the starting pitcher for Dumont, nearly pulled off the incredible — but maybe, just maybe he didn’t count on the diminutive Nuy — who may be small, but hits with the best of them. And that he did.

Danny Hennen pitched well enough to win for over eight innings, but gave way to Pesch after allowing a double to start the ninth. Pesch came on but couldn’t get past Albrecht.

The win gave Minneota a 9-5 overall record. They play at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Dawson for Merchants Night.

 

Mudhens 5, Dumont 4

MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Beau Buysse, c 4-0-1-0; Jake Leighton, rf 5-2-2-0; Adam Durfee, ss 4-1-2-0; Henry Pesch, rf-p 5-1-1-1; Preston Nuy, 3b 5-1-2-2; Austin Buysse, dh 3-0-1-1; Danny Hennen, p-1b 3-0-0-1; Jesse Drager, 2b 4-0-2-0; Brock Buysse, cf 3-0-1-0. Totals 36-5-12-5.

DUMONT (AB-R-H-RBI) Nate Albrecht 3-run home run (9th). Catcher Zach Paul.

Score by Innings:

Dumont        001 000 003 0 — 4 x x

Minneota                   000 004 000 1 — 5 13 x

LOB-Minneota 7; Dumont  unknown. SB-Minneota: Leighton. SAC-Minneota-Austin Buysse. DP-Dumont 6-4-3 (2). HR-Dumont: Albrecht.

Pitching                     IP    R   ER    H  BB  K

Minneota

Danny Hennen           8      3    3      5     3   6    

Henry Pesch (W)        2       1   1       2     0   2

Dumont

Albrecht & others       9       5  5        12  x    x 

 

Bats awaken too 

late at Madison

Jake Leighton tried to be philosophic about Minneota’s 5-4 loss to the Madison Mallards Wednesday night.

“We got hitting — but we’ve got to start earlier,” he said.

“We wait until the seventh, eighth or ninth innings to get going,” he said.

The Mudhens spotted the Mallards a 3-0 lead after Leighton was wild and Madison had his number in the early going. Back-to-back doubles by Matt Monson and Garrett Olson after a single and pair of walks by Leighton put Madison in front.

Meanwhile, pitcher Brandon Bornhorst gave up just three hits through the first seven innings. One was a booming double by Tyson Sonnenburg but the Mudhens couldn’t get him home.

Everything they hit was hard, but right at Madison fielders. 

Meanwhile, everything the Mallards hit seemed to drop in for base hits.

Finally in the eighth the bats woke up. Henry Pesch slammed a double, Brock Buysse beat out his second infield hit to score Pesch and later scored on a long double by Leighton. It was 3-2 going into the bottom of the eighth.

Unfortunately, Madison got to Leighton again. He was relieved by Pesch, who couldn’t stop Madison and Matt Monson collected his third hit and third and fourth RBI’s with a single to center to make it 5-2.

Minneota gave it one more try — scoring two in the ninth on another booming hit by Pesch, a double. But he was left stranded on second with the potential tying run when Bornhorst struck out the final two batters.

“We just have to get hits earlier,” said Manager Sonnenburg.

 

MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Beau Buysse, 2b 4-0-0-0; Jake Leighton, p-lf 4-0-1-1; Adam Durfee, ss 4-0-0-0; Tyson Sonnenburg, cf 4-0-1-0; Austin Buysse, 3b 3-0-0-0; Jordan Beck, 3b 1-1-0-0; Preston Nuy, dh-3b 4-1-1-0; Danny Hennen 1b 0-0-0-0; Henry Pesch, lf-p 4-1-3-2; Noah Scott, c 4-0-0-0; Brock Buysse, rf 4-1-2-1. Totals 36-4-8-4.

MADISON (AB-R-H-RBI) Brandon Hill, ss 4-2-3-0; Austin Haas, cf 2-1-0-0; Matt Monson, 1b 4-0-3-4; Garrett Olson, 3b 5-0-3-2; Cole Bungarden, rf 4-0-1-0; Peyton Mortenson, dh 5-0-0-0; Brandon Bornhorst, p 0-0-0-0; Korbin Kells, lf 3-0-0-0; Zach Flischmeyer, lf 0-0-0-0; Connar Oie, c 4-0-2-0; Seth Haas, 2b 3-2-1-0. Totals 35-5-12-5.

Score by Innings

Minneota         000 000 22 — 4  8  3

Madison          030 000 2x — 5 11 1

E-Minneota: Beau Buysse 2, Leighton 1; Madison: Hill. LOB-Minneota 5; Madison 13. SAC-Madison: Austin Haas. DP-Minneota 4-3 (4). 2B-Minneota: Sonnenburg, Pesch 2, Nuy, Leighton; Madison: Olson.

Pitching               IP    R    ER  H   BB   K

Minneota

Leighton (L)        7.1   5     5    9     3      3

Pesch                 .2     0     0    2     0      0

Madison

Bornhorst (W)     9      4     2    8     0      5

WP-Bornhorst, Leighton, Pesch. HP- Monson, Bungarden, Kells (by Leighton).  PB-Scott.