Webster breaks 51-game losing streak; DRS League enters final weekend of play
With just a few days left in the Dakota-Rice-Scott League schedule, only the New Market Muskies have locked up a spot in the Region 3C playoffs as of Monday, July 18.
The Muskies clinched the regular season championship and have a 19-2 record with just two games remaining. St. Patrick and Prior Lake, at 14-6, are just one win each away from clinching playoff spots, while Faribault, at 13- 8, has the inside track at the fourth automatic seed.
Montgomery, New Prague and Shakopee are still alive for one of the top four spots, but each would have to win out their schedule while hoping the top teams lose out, and in some cases they still might not make it due to tiebreakers.
The top four teams in the league will automatically be seeded into the eight-team double-elimination region tournament. The remaining eight teams will play best-ofthree series for the remaining four spots, with the No. 12 team playing No. 5, No. 11 vs. No. 6, etc. Those series will start on Tuesday, July 26, or Wednesday, July 27, and conclude on Sunday, July 31.
The big news in DRS play over the week was Webster’s 5-4 win over New Prague on Thursday, July 14. The win stopped a 51-game league losing streak by the Sox, dating back more than two years.
Prior Lake and Montgomery each won three games over the past week, with Union Hill, New Prague, New Market and St. Benedict each getting two win.
Tuesday July 12 Bulldogs 9, Sox 1 Union Hill’s Dan Feneis struck out 10 and allowed just one hit in a 9-1 win over Webster Tuesday July 12. Nick Hanson scored Webster’s only run, after getting a walk in the eighth inning. Nate Nielsen had Webster’s only hit. Jeff Dietz had a big night for the Bulldogs, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Cullen Smith also had two hits. Jesse Bastyr scored two runs and had two RBIs, including a home run. Eric Bisek scored three times for Union Hill. Adam Neuger took the loss for the Sox.
Wednesday, July 13 Mallards 7, Irish 5 Montgomery scored seven runs in the third inning and then fended off an Irish comeback for a 7-5 win. Mike Flicek had a two-run double as part of the Mallards’ big inning. Pat Lloyd had two hits for Montgomery. Trevor Smisek started and got the win, allowing six hits in 5-2/3 innings. Ted Christian earned the save. Zach Seurer took the loss for the Irish.
Mudcats 7, Lakers 5 Prior Lake rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 7-5 win over Faribault. Jake Schmidt earned the win, while Tyler Francis got the loss. Jonathon Houston, Cole Bjorge, and Kyle Schmidt each had two hits for the Mudcats. Joey Grote had three hits for Faribault and Ryan Archambault and Dylan Valentyn had two each.
Orioles 1, Saints 0 New Prague outlasted St. Benedict and won the pitcher’s duel between Dusty Beckius and Michael Pauly. New Prague played strong errorless defense and turned three double plays. Pauly pitched eight strong innings striking out five and allowing seven hits. Beckius pitched all nine innings, scattering six hits throughout the night. The Orioles scored the game’s lone run in the fifth inning when Aaron Kes led off with a single. Ben Buthe used a sacrifice bunt to move him to second and Justin Novak followed with a double. Novak led the Orioles with two hits, Jeremy Heitkamp also had two hits for the Saints.
Coyotes 8 Bulldogs 5 Shakopee scored three runs in the bottom of the first and never trailed in an 8-5 win over Union Hill in Shakopee Wednesday, July 13. The Coyotes had 16 hits, with two each from Alec Pauly, Tyler Sloss, Zak Hoffman, Alex Johnson, Scott Bode and Alex Boys. Johnson had three RBIs for Shakopee. The Bulldogs were led by Danny Beckius, who had two hits. Sloss got the win, going seven innings, while Hunter Piehl took the loss.
Thursday, July 14 Mallards 6, Warriors 2 Montgomery never trailed, taking a 3-0 lead on their way to a 6-2 win over Veseli. Robbie Marshall was the winning pitcher for the Mallards, with Johnny Krocak getting the save. Curt Brezina took the loss for the Warriors. Sox 5, Orioles 4 Abases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Webster Sox their first league win in more than two years, a span of 51 games, as they registered a 5- 4 win over the New Prague Orioles. Webster took a 4-2 lead in the second, but the Orioles tied it with a run in the top of the seventh. Jack Meyer was the winning pitcher, going 2-1/3 innings in relief of starter Jeremy Wieland, while Zack Sirek took the loss. Webster had just five hits, but were issued eight walks by Oriole pitching. Jason Nelson had two hits for the Sox, with Gage Bergmann getting two RBIs. Justin Novak and James Fuerniss had two hits each for the Orioles.
Friday, July 15 Express 13, Warriors 3 Elko defeated Veseli 13-3 Friday, July 15, in a DRS game at Veseli. No details were made available.
Saturday, July 16 Muskies 10, Lakers 6 New Market jumped to a 5-1 lead, saw Faribault draw to within one at 7-6, then pulled away for a 10-6 win over Faribault Saturday, July 16, in New Market. Kyle Henkemeyer had three hits for New Market, with Scott Lyden and Andy Henkemeyer adding two each. Nick Rost and Kyle Bergstrom both homered for the Muskies. Faribault’s Mitch Johnson, Adam Jensen and Dylan Valentyn had two hits each for the Lakers, with Matt Lane, Adam Jensen and Dylan Valentyn each hitting home runs. Derek Bergstrom stuck out 10 in getting the complete game win. Evan Knutson went 7-1/3 innings in taking the loss. Saints 14, Sox 4 The St. Benedict Saints defeated the Webster Sox 14-4 in eight innings Saturday at St. Benedict. Josh Malz hit a grand slam and Mitchell Martin added a three-run home run for the Saints. Jeremy Heitkamp pitched the complete game giving up two earned runs. Gage Bergman had three hits for the Sox. Parker Haferman added two.
Sunday, July 17 Mudcats 9, Coyotes 1 Isaac Saad allowed just four hits in nine innings as the Prior Lake Mudcats defeated Shakopee 9-1. Jake Lehrer had three hits and three RBIs for Prior Lake, while Levi Schneider, Jonathon Houston, Kyle Schmidt, Tony Loehr and Brad Schoenrock had two hits each. Zak Hoffman had two hits, including a solo home run for the Coyotes’ only run. Alex Johnson started and took the loss.
Irish 15, Warriors 2 Matt Ambroz hit a solo home run to give the Irish a 3-1 lead and it would prove to be the game winning RBI Sunday in Veseli. Seth Ambroz would tack on two home runs of his own en route to the 15-2 win. Bill Dunker pitched six strong innings to get the win, and despite the score, Matt Perkinson pitched very well in defeat.
Saints 14, Sox 1 The St. Benedict Saints defeated the Webster Sox 14-1 in seven innings Sunday in Webster. Nick Heitkamp had four hits for St. Benedict. Jeremy Heitkamp, Mitchell Martin, David Hartman, Wade Olsen, and Paul Hentges all added two hits each. Jason Nelson had two hits for Webster. Gage Bergman's bases loaded walk scored Cole Giles for the Sox lone run. Matthias Duevel earned the victory going 5-1/3 innings.
Orioles 6, Lakers 2 New Prague used a huge seventh inning where they scored five runs to defeat Faribault 6-2 for the season sweep. The Orioles picked up their first run in the sixth when Dust Steinhoff led off with a single, a few batters later pinch runner Bridger Hahn would score on a throwing error. Then in the following inning Justin Novak led off with a single followed by Aaron Kes being hit by a pitch. Steinhoff would drive Novak in with a double and Zack Dubanoski would pick up two RBI’s with a single. The Orioles would keep the pressure on with hits from James Fuerniss and Dan Novak driving in the fourth and fifth runs of the inning. The Lakers mounted a comeback in the eighth, picking up two runs when Joey Grote hit an RBI double followed by a single from Matt Lane. That would be all that the Lakers would muster against Oriole starter Joel Zimmermann. Both Zimmermann and Lane went the distance for their respective teams. Dubanoski had three hits, while Justin Novak, Fuerniss and Steinhoff all had two to lead the Orioles.
Muskies 15, Mallards 5 Both teams had their hitting shoes on, combining for 27 hits, but New Market made their 15 hits count in a 15-5 win over Montgomery Sunday. The Muskies had four home runs, from Andy Henkemeyer, Nate Rost, Nick Rost and Kyle Bergstrom. Each of those also had three runs batted in. David Stewart and Kyle Henkemeyer had three hits for New Market, while Andy Henkemeyer, Bergstrom and Neil Engler had two each. The Mallards had two hits each from Tom Flicek, Ryan Iverson, Mike Flicek and Trevor Smisek, but none of the team’s 12 hits went for extra bases. Andy Henkemeyer pitched seven innings for the complete game win, while Jared Schloesser took the loss for Montgomery.
Bulldogs 3, Aces 1 Union Hill scored in each of the first three innings to claim a 3-1 win over Lonsdale Sunday at Union Hill. Dan Feneis was the winning pitcher, while Joseph Sabal took the loss. Lonsdale’s Dale Kirschman had three hits and Matt Tschida two.
Monday, July 18 Mallards 6, Saints 0 Montgomery’s Jaron Christiansen allowed just six hits and struck out eight to shut out St. Benedict 6-0 Monday at Montgomery. Tanner Oakes and Mitchell Martin had two hits each for the Saints. Nick Heitkamp took the loss.
Mudcats 10, Orioles 6 Prior Lake scored three runs in the third inning and led 8-1 before the Orioles started a comeback. New Prague scored three times in the seventh and twice in the eighth to pull to within two runs. Prior Lake scored twice in the top of the ninth, but the Orioles loaded the bases before Prior Lake retired the side. Zack Sirek started and took the loss for New Prague, with Dust Steinhoff, Ben Buthe, Dan Shetka and James Fuerniss all pitching in relief. Prior Lake’s Jake Lehrer had four RBIs. Cole Bjorge and Brad Schoenrock had two hits each. For New Prague, Austin Bachman had three hits and three RBIs, while Eric Wagner had two hits. Ben Morrison had a complete game win for the Mudcats.
