Photo by Chad Koenen
Jacob Guck throws a strike during Friday’s game against Frazee in New York Mills.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The third ranked New York Mills Eagles kept its stranglehold on the Park Region Conference with a 4-1 record in five games last week. The Eagles are currently 11-1 overall and ranked fourth in the QRF and third in the state rankings. 

The Eagles are 9-0 in the conference and have a two game lead over Wadena-Deer Creek in the Park Region Conference and a 2 1/2 game lead over Menahga. 

This week the Eagles will host Pillager on Tuesday and travel to Staples-Motley on Friday and Wadena-Deer Creek on Friday.

Monday

Three pitchers combined to throw a 3-hit shut out over Browerville-Eagle Valley on Monday night. 

Jacob Guck scattered just 2 hits over 5 innings to pick up the 7-0 win over the Tigers, while Drey Roberts and Will Oakes pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh inning to secure the win. 

The Eagles got things going in the bottom of the first inning when Derin Gaudette hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring Jacob Guck across the plate. 

NY Mills added 3 more runs in the bottom of the second inning when Jace Rudolph hit an RBI single and Guck hit a 2 run single to make the game 4-0. 

The Eagles added another run in the fourth inning on a Jonah Johnson RBI single and 2 more runs in the sixth inning on another Johnson RBI single and an Abe Carlson RBI single to make the game 7-0. 

Roberts had a big game from the plate as he went 3-4, while Guck, Johnson and Cale Rudolph also finished with 2 hits in the win. 

AB R H BI

Jake Guck 4 1 2 2

Jonah Johnson 3 1 2 2

Derin Gaudette 1 0 0 1

Abe Carlson 4 0 1 1

Drey Roberts 4 1 3 0

Will Oakes 0 0 0 0

Bren Salo 3 0 0 0

Braden Ehnert 3 0 0 0

Cale Rudoplh 3 2 2 0

Jace Rudolph 2 2 1 1

HITTING- 2B-3B 

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)-Jake Guck 5-2-0-0-4-0, Drey Roberts 1-0-0-0-2-1, Will Oakes 1-1-0-0-0-1

Tuesday

NY Mills jumped out to a 7-0 lead with a pair of big innings on Tuesday night, as the Eagles defeated rivals Wadena-Deer Creek by a score of 11-4.

Derin Gaudette broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning when he hit an RBI single, before Abe Carlson and Drey Roberts followed with RBI singles of their own to make the score 3-0. 

Just one inning later, the Eagles scored 4 more runs when Monte Briard scored on an error and Carlson hit a 2-run double. Roberts followed with an RBI double of his own to make the score 7-0.

After WDC made the score 7-2 in the top of the sixth inning, the Eagles added 4 runs of their own on a Chase Keskitalo sacrifice fly, another WDC error and a 2-run double off the bat of Cale Rudolph.

The Wolverines added 2 more runs in the top of the seventh inning, but the Eagles held on for an 11-4 win. 

Gaudette and Roberts had big games from the plate as they both finished with 3 hits, while Johnson and Carlson each finished with 2. 

Gaudette picked up the win on the mound as he pitched 6 2/3 innings and gave up just 7 hits, while striking out 10 hitters. 

AB R H BI

Jake Guck 3 2 1 0

Jonah Johnson 4 3 2 0

Derin Gaudette 3 3 3 1

Abe Carlson 3 1 2 3

Chase Keskitalo 0 0 0 1

Drey Roberts 4 1 3 2

Lucas Grabow 0 0 0 0

Will Oakes 0 0 0 0

Bren Salo 3 0 0 0

Ben Burkmann 1 0 0 0

Braden Ehnert 3 0 1 0

Cale Rudoplh 1 0 1 2

Monte Briard 2 1 1 0

Eathan Ruther 2 0 0 0

Jace Rudolph 3 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Abe CArlson, Drey Roberts, Cale Rudolph

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)-Derin Gaudette 6.2-7-3-2-3-1, Drey Roberts 0.1-0-1-0-0-0

Thursday

Four NY Mills errors led to 10 unearned runs as the Eagles fell for the first time this season by a score of 12-4. As a team the Eagles gave up just 2 unearned runs in the game, while Brandon-Evansville scored 6 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and 4 more in the bottom of the sixth inning to come away with the 12-4 win.

Brandon-Evansville got things going offensively with 1 run in the bottom of the first inning, before Abe Carlson tied the game in the top of the third inning with an RBI single. 

The Chargers added a run in the bottom of the third inning to make the game 2-1. 

NY Mills took a lead in the fifth inning when Carlson hit an RBI double, Derin Gaudette scored on a passed ball and Braden Ehnert hit an RBI single to make the game 4-2. That’s when the errors began to become too much to overcome as the Chargers went on to defeat the Eagles by a score of 12-4. 

Carlson and Ehnert both finished with 2 hits, while Jonah Johnson took the loss on the mound as he gave up 5 hits and surrendered 8 runs, 2 of which were earned, over 4 2/3 innings. 

AB R H BI

Jake Guck 3 0 1 0

Jonah Johnson 2 1 0 0

Derin Gaudette 3 2 1 0

Abe Carlson 3 1 2 2

Drey Roberts 3 0 0 0

Bren Salo 1 0 0 0

Lucas Grabow 1 0 0 0

Braden Ehnert 3 0 2 1

Chase Keskitalo 1 0 0 0

Eathan Ruther 3 0 0 0

Jace Rudolph 3 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Abe Carlson, Jacob Guck

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)-Jonah Johnson 4 1/3-5-8-2-5-5, Drey Roberts 1/3-1-0-0-0-0, Braden Ehnert 2/3-2-3-0-1-0, Abe Carlson 1/3-1-1-0-1-0

Friday

NY Mills hosted a rare split double header on Friday night as the Eagles defeated both Menahga and Frazee to complete a busy five game week.

In the opening game of the night, the Eagles scored in all-but two innings as they defeated the Menahga Braves by a score of 10-5. The Eagles out hit the Braves by a 14-7 margin.

Braden Ehnert broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning when he hit an RBI double to bring Bren Salo across the plate to score. The Eagles added 3 more runs with two outs when Derin Gaudette hit a bases clearing triple and would later score to make the game 10-5 in favor of the Eagles. 

The triple completed the cycle for Gaudette who finished the game with 4 hits, 6 RBIs, a single, double, triple and a 2-run home run that he hit in the bottom of the third inning.

Jonah Johnson and Bren Salo each had 3 hits and Abe Carlson finished with a pair of hits. 

Jacob Guck picked up the win on the mound in relief as he pitched the final 2 1/3 innings and gave up just 1 hit. 

In the nightcap, the Eagles made quick work of Frazee in non-conference action as NY Mills defeated the Hornets by a score of 11-1. 

The Eagles broke the game open from the onset as Gaudette hit a one out single to bring Guck across the plate, before Salo hit an RBI single and Abe Carlson scored on an error to make the game 3-0. Eathan Ruther followed with an RBI single and Salo scored on a passed ball to make the score 5-0. 

The Eagles added 3 more runs in the second inning, 2 more in the third and another in the bottom of the fifth inning when Ben Burkmann scored on a Chase Keskitalo single with two outs to end the game by the 10-run rule. 

Guck picked up the win on the mound as he pitched 2 innings of scoreless baseball, before Salo pitched the final 3 innings and gave up just 1 earned run. 

Menahga

AB R H BI

Jake Guck 4 0 0 0

Jonah Johnson 4 3 3 1

Derin Gaudette 4 3 4 6

Abe Carlson 4 0 2 0

Drey Roberts 3 0 0 0

Ben Burkmann 1 0 0 0

Bren Salo 3 1 3 0

Braden Ehnert 4 1 1 1

Cale Rudoplh 3 0 1 0

Chase Keskitalo 1 0 0 0

Jace Rudolph 2 2 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Abe Carlson, Braden Ehnert, Derin Gaudette, Jonah Johnson, Bren Salo 2; 3B- Derin Gaudette, HR- Gaudette

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)-Drey Roberts 4.2- 6-5-4-4-3, Jake Guck 2.1-1-0-0-0-0

Frazee

AB R H BI

Jake Guck 1 2 1 0

Ben Burkmann 2 1 1 0

Jonah Johnson 3 2 1 0

Derin Gaudette 0 1 0 3

Jace Rudolph 1 0 0 0

Abe Carlson 1 2 1 1

Chase Keskitalo 1 0 1 1

Drey Roberts 1 1 0 0

Will Oakes 1 0 0 0

Bren Salo 3 1 2 1

Braden Ehnert 3 0 1 1

Eathan Ruther 2 0 0 1

Cale Rudoplh 1 0 0 0

Monte Briard 2 1 1 0

HITTING- 2B- Abe Carlson

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)-Jake Guck 2-0-0-0-0-3, Bren Salo 3-4-1-1-0-3