It was an offensive fireworks the likes of what the Minneota Mudhens have seldom seen.

They banged out 19 hits, scored seven runs on seven hits in the fifth inning and went on to beat Chokio, 10-7 Saturday in the sizzling heat.

In an attempt to beat two of the top teams in the Land O'Ducks League on the same day, they traveled to Ortonville.

Despite a 1-1 tie after seven innings, they gave up two in the eighth to the Rox and dropped the second game, 3-1.

"We had lots of timely hits," said Manager Tyson Sonnenburg.

He led the way by scoring the first run himself with a solo home run in the third. A run batted in by Jordan Beck made it 3-0 after four innings — before the explosion.

"That was good to see," said Assistant Manager Beau Buysse. "We got all those hits against one of the leading teams in the league," Buysse responded.

The hits just keep coming until the Coyotes replaced their pitcher Nick Hervin with Kyle Athey. After five, it was 10-0 Minneota.

The big blow in the fifth was a two-run double by Adam Durfee. but everyone contributed to the attack and it was Beau Buysse who had two hits in the fifth inning alone. He started the rally with a single.

But Chokio is not a team to be taken lightly and they began to fight back on a hot day with the wind blowing out and blowing the ball all around the place.

Danny Hennen sailed through the first four innnings, but in the fifth had to quelch a Coyoted rally after they scored four runs. Then when he hit the first batter in the sixth, the Mudhens put Zach Nuy on the mound. But Chokio scored twice and narrowed the lead to 10-6.

Nuy and his reliever, Jake Leighton escaped a couple of Chokio uprisings, but when Nick Daly homered to lead off the ninth, it was 10-7.

But that only seemed to ignite Leighton and he struck out the next three hitters to end the contest, 10-7.

"It's been a long time since we've been able to string hits together like that," Buysse said about the 10 straight base runners who reached base in the sixth.

Buysse, Leighton and Henry Pesch each had three hits; Durfee, Austin Buysse, Preston Nuy and Jordan Beck had two each.

Hennen got the win and Leighton the save.

Ortonville wins, 3-1

Despite throwing  a couple innings in the first game, Leighton took the mound at Ortonville.

After giving up a first-inning run, he settled into a pitching dual with the Rox Tony Shake.

Shake didn't give in until the seventh when the Mudhens finally scored after a long Austin Buysse double and single by Preston Nuy.

But the lead was short-lived. A walk by Leighton to John Thomas resulted in disaster when Leighton took a ground ball from Andrew Treinen and tried to get Thomas at second, but threw the ball into centerfield. A single by Nate Treinen scored one run, Ortonville got two and Shake held off the Mudhens in the ninth for the 3-1 win.

"We needed to play situational baseball," said Beau Buysse. We had chances, but just couldn't string anything together against Ortonville," he said.

But he summed it up by saying, "It was not a bad day. The goal was to win both of them, but we needed at least one."

He was referring to a good spot in the playoffs.

They have one league game left against winless Appleton. "If we win that one I think we'll get ranked in the top of the league for the playoffs," he said.

That would avoid an early playoff to get into the sectionals.

"What I liked was that our guys did not let up. In that second game we just settled into a pitcher's dual."

"Ortonville is the top team in the league and we gave ourselves a chance," Buysse added.

The Mudhens will play a 7:30 p.m. game Wednesday in Raymond. This game was scheduled a couple of weeks ago. Their final home game is Friday, July 13 for Military Day against the Windom Pirates.

Minneota 10, Chokio Coyotes 7

MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Beau Buysse, c 4-0-3-1; Tyson Sonnenburg, cf 4-2-1-1; Jake Leighton, lf-p 5-2-3-0; Adam Durfee, ss 5-1-2-2; Austin Buysse, dh 4-1-2-0; Tommy Fischer, cr 0-0-0-0; Danny Hennen, p-1b 0-0-0-0; Preston Nuy, 4-2-2-2; Zach Nuy, p 0-0-0-0; Henry Pesch, rf 5-1-3-1; Jesse Drager, 2b 5-0-1-1; Jordan Beck, 1b 5-0-2-1. Totals 41-10-19-9.

CHOKIO (AB-R-H-RBI) Alex Erickson, ss 6-2-3-2; Chandler Erickson, c 2-1-1-0; Nick Hervin, p-rf 5-0-2-1; Zach Howe, cf 4-1-0-0; Dylan McCalip, lf 4-0-1-0; Alex Dougherty, rf 0-0-0-0; Jeremy Westerman, 3b 5-0-2-1; Mitch Daly, 1b 4-1-2-1; Taylor McCalip, lf 4-1-0-0; Justin Daly, 2b 5-1-2-0. Totals 40-7-3-5.

Score by Innings

Minneota    002 170 000 — 10 19 2

Chokio        000 042 001 — 7   13 2

E-Minneota: Durfee 2; Chokio: C. Erickson 2. LOB-Minneota 8; Chokio 13. SB-Minneota: Leighton; Chokio: C. Erickson. DP-Minneota 5-4 (2); Chokio 6-4-3 (4); 4-6-3 (8). 2B-Minneota: Durfee. HR-Minneota: Sonnenburg; Chokio: Mitch Daly.  

Pitching               IP    R    ER    H    BB    K

Minneota

Hennen (W)        5      5     4       8     0       2

Z. Nuy                  2.1   1     1       7     0       2

Leighton (S)        1.2   1     1       2     1       3

Chokio

Hervin (L)           4      9     5       10   3       1

Athey                    5      1     0       9     0       4

HP-P. Nuy (by Hervin); C. Erickson (by Hennen, Z. Nuy); Howe (by Leighton). WP-Hervin 2; Leighton 1.

 

Ortonville 3, Minneota 1

MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Beau Buysse, 2b 4-0-1-0; Tyson Sonnenbur, cf 3-0-0-0; Jake Leighton, p 3-0-1-0; Adam Durfee, ss 4-0-1-0; Austin Buysse, dh 4-0-1-0; Tommy Fischer, cr 0-1-0-0; Danny Hennen, 1b 0-0-0-0; Preston Nuy, 3b 4-0-1-1; Henry Pesch, lf-p 3-0-0-0; Jesse Drager, c 2-0-0-0; Brock Buysse, rf 2-0-0-0; Noah Scott, rf 1-0-0-0. Totals 30-1-5- 1.

ORTONVILLE: (AB-R-H-RBI) Tyson Powell, ss 3-1-1-0; Nate Treinen, cf 4-0-3-1; Joe Fuller, 3b 3-0-0-0; Chris Fellows, 1b 2-0-0-1; Chris Doney, c 3-0-0-0; Chance Haugen, rf 3-0-0-0; John Thomas, lf 1-1-0-0; Andrew Treinen, dh 3-1-0-0; Tony Shake, p 0-0-0-0; Hunter Winther, 2b 2-0-0-0; Jackson Athey, ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 25-3-4-3.

Score by Innings:

Minneota        000 000 100 — 1 5 1

Ortonville        100 000 02x — 3 4 2

E-Minneota: Leighton; Ortonville:  Powell; Fuller. LOB-Minneota 5; Ortonville: 5. SB-Minneota-Durfee; Ortonville: Nate Treinen. SAC-Minneota: Sonnenburg, Leighton, Durfee, A. Buysse; Ortonville: Fuller, N. Treinen. DP-Minneota 1-4 (6); Ortonville 4-5 (2). 2B-Minneota: A. Buysse; Ortonville: N. Treinen.

Pitching               IP     R    ER    H     BB    K

Minneota        

Leighton (L)        7.1    3     1      3       1       4

Pesch                    .2      0     0      1       0       1

Ortonville

Shake (W)           9        1    1      5       1       2

HP-Powell, Thomas (by Leighton).