Orioles heading toward playoffs after split

After splitting games against St. Patrick and St. Benedict, the New Prague Orioles, Union Hill and the other teams in the Dakota, Rice, Scott League are preparing for post-season play.

The Orioles will open post-season play Tuesday, July 30. The bottom four teams in the DRS will play a best two-of-three series to determine the seventh and eight seeds in the region. The region tournament will begin Sunday, Aug. 4, with the seedings being finalized in the next week.

The Orioles and Union Hill are battling it out for the top spot in the always-grueling DRS. Wednesday, July 24, New Prague hosted Webster. Details were not available when The New Prague Times went to press. The Bulldogs host St. Benedict tonight, Thursday, June 25, 7 p.m.

New Prague 10, St. Benedict 0 The Orioles beat St. Benedict in eight innings Sunday, July 21, behind Gavin Bergman. He pitched seven shutout innings while striking out seven Saints batters. Bergman also hit two home runs and drove in five RBIs. Tommy McBroom and Dan Ring each had three hits for the Os. James Fuerniss, Jake Deutsch, and Aiden Dorzinski collected two hits apiece. Mitchel Martin, Derek Albers, Nolan Eishens and Ben Thurow had the hits for the Saints. Albers took the loss on the mound. Matt Zweber threw the eighth inning for the Orioles to preserve the shutout.

St. Patrick 10, New Prague 6 St Patrick took an early lead in the July 18 tilt and never looked back. Brian Ahrens was the winning pitcher for the Irish. Brody Isley took the L for the Orioles. Jack Friedges had three hits to lead the Irish. Zack Endres and Ryan Friedges also added two hits apiece. New Prague’s top hitters were Aidan Dorzinski and Ben Schmitz, each with two hits.

Union Hill 5, Webster 3 (11 inns.) The Bulldogs scored three times in the 11th inning to earn the win July 18 and keep pace with New Prague. Brady O’Neill, Jack Kreutzian and Joe Becker all scored runs in the decisive frame. Becker’s extra-bases hit was the big hit in the 11th. Will Seymour was the winning pitcher for Union Hill.

Union Hill 17, Shakopee 4 The Bulldogs chewed up the host Coyotes, scoring in every inning of the Wednesday, July 17, clash at The Joe. UH scored twice in the first inning, added another four tallies in the second and two more in the third. The Bulldogs scored another three runs in the fourth and wrapped their scoring in the sixth. Joe Becker scored three runs, drove in three runs and had three hits for UH. Nate Osborne also drove in three runs. Tyler Giesen, Conrad Masberg and Jack Giesen all had two hits for Union Hill. Tanner Nordrum was the winning pitcher for the Bulldogs. He pitched five innings and struck out seven, allowing one earned run. Nathan Berg and Becker also pitched an inning in the win.

Veseli 7, Shakopee 0 Max Fierst shut down the Coyotes, throwing a complete game shutout and leading Veseli to a 7-0 victory on Sunday, July 21. Drew Picka collected four hits in five at bats in the win. Picka doubled in the third inning, singled in the first inning, singled in the seventh inning, and singled in the fifth inning. Leading 2-0, the Warriors scored five runs on four hits in the bottom of the seventh inning. Drew Picka singled, scoring one run, Bryce Simon singled, scoring two runs. Luke Shepard singled, scoring one run, and Beau Brantner drew a walk, scoring one run.

Veseli 11, Prior Lake 1 The Warriors couldn’t keep pace with the Mudcats in the July 18 game. PL finished with 19 hits. Nathan Simon hit a sacrifice fly, which helped Veseli tie the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the second.

St. Patrick 4, New Market 3 New Market led early, and the game had a 1-hour-plus rain delay. After the delay, the Irish scored twice in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Muskies scored two more of their own in the sixth inning, but the Irish pieced together two runs in the bottom of the eighth and held on for the Section 1B win. Offensively, the Irish were led by Ryan Friedges' two hits. Nick Baker had two RBI, including taking a hit-by-pitch to force in the go-ahead run in the eighth frame. Ben Taxdahl had an RBI for the Irish. New Market's Andy Henkemeyer had two RBIs. Ezra Formaneck took the loss for New Market.

St. Patrick 4, Miesville 0 Tate Marland made his St. Patrick Irish debut, and dazzled the Mudhens, picking up the complete game shutout win. He held Miesville hitless until the ninth inning, picking up 10 strikeouts on the night. The Irish offense was paced by Ryan Wickman's three-run home run and Ryan Friedges' three hits and an RBI.

St. Patrick 17, Veseli 1 Mikey Gottschalk picked up the win on the mound Wednesday, July 17, striking out six Warriors while Jack Friedges and Hunter Even paced the offense with home runs and four RBIs. Veseli's Nick Friedges took the loss. Matt Friedges led the Warrior offense with two hits.

Prior Lake 11, Veseli 2 Riley Schaeffer led the host Warriors with an RBI in the July 16 game. The first baseman went 1-for-4 on the day. Matt Perkinson, Nick Geis, Jackson Jirik, Beau Brantner, Schaeffer, and Josh Simon each collected one hit for Veseli. The team played errorless defense. Jirik had the most chances in the field with 10.

Lonsdale 8, Montgomery 1 The Aces won the Friday, July 19, game, thanks in part to five runs in the sixth inning. Issac Pint singled, scoring one run, Joey Malecha homered to left field, driving in three runs, and Ashton Pauly singled, scoring one run. Malecha, the No. 8 hitter for Lonsdale Aces, led the way with three runs batted in. He went 1-for-3 on the day. Pauly went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead Lonsdale Aces in hits. Ryan Cahoon led Lonsdale Aces with two walks. Overall, the team had a strong eye at the plate, accumulating seven walks for the game.

Montgomery 2, Belle Plaine 1 Pitchers stole the show Wednesday night, July 17, when the Tigers came to Montgomery for a nonleague game with the Mallards. Brandon Gentz started on the mound for the Mallards and pitched six innings allowing only one unearned run and three hits to collect the win. Ben Anderson closed out the last inning for his fourth save of the season, striking out two in his one inning. Both Mallard runs were scored in the bottom of the fourth on a BP error.

Lonsdale 8, Montgomery 1 The Lonsdale Aces scored five runs in the sixth inning to carry them to victory, 8-1 over the Mallards last Friday night, July 19. Ted Christian pitched the first six innings and despite only giving up four hits, seven walks helped contribute to the Aces’ scoring opportunities. Ryan Iverson led the Mallards with three hits and the only RBI.

Prior Lake 8, Montgomery 5 Despite leading by as much as four runs, the Mallards fell to Prior Lake, 8-5, Monday, July 21, at Memorial Park. The Mallards took a 5-1 run lead, scoring five in the bottom of the fifth frame with singles from Pat Lloyd, Dawson Pint and Mike Flicek and fence-rattling doubles from Matt Smith and Ben Anderson. However, the pitching and defense were unable to hold the lead, giving up two in the fourth and sixth innings and three runs in the eighth.

DRS Standings (As of July 21)

Team W L Last 5

New Prague 14 3 5-0

Union Hill 13 3 4-1

Prior Lake 10 5 5-0

Webster 10 5 3-2

Montgomery 9 7 3-2

Lonsdale 8 9 4-1

St. Benedict 5 9 2-3

Faribault 5 10 1-4

Veseli 3 12 1-4

Shakopee 1 15 0-5

Section 1B (As of July 22)

Elko 10 3

Rochester 8 3

Miesville 8 4

New Market 6 6

St. Patrick 5 5

Northfield 4 8

Dundas 3 7

Hampton 1 9