Four Eagles combine for no-hitter against Pillager

Photo by Chad Koenen
Monte Briard throws out a runner from short stop during a recent game.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Jonah Johnson gave up just 1 hit and struck out 12 South Ridge batters in a match up against a pair of top ranked teams on Friday night. Johnson retired 16 of 17 hitters in a row at one point as the second ranked New York Mills Eagles defeated the seventh ranked South Ridge Panthers by a score of 4-0.

The night also included a rematch between the Eagles and state ranked Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines. Unfortunately, the Wolverines defeated NY Mills by a score of 3-2 to drop the Eagles to 9-2 overall this season. 

This week the Eagles hosted Menahga on Monday, Pillager on Tuesday and will travel to Sebeka on Friday. 

Tuesday

Four NY Mills pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter on Tuesday night against Pillager. 

Jonah Johnson, Brayden Ehnert, Cody Barthel and Will Oakes didn’t surrender a hit and walked just 2 batters as NY Mills defeated the Pillager Huskies by a score of 11-0. The pitchers also combined to strike out 16 hitters, including Will Oakes who struck out 4 hitters in one inning, after a batter reached first base on a dropped third strike. 

The Eagles got on the scoreboard first when Ehnert hit an RBI single to bring Jacob Guck across the plate from third base. Johnson would later score on a passed ball and Ehnert hit an RBI single to bring Jon Rinerson across the plate to make the score 3-0. 

NY Mills scored 5 more runs in the third inning, 1 in the fourth and a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning to end the game by the 10-run rule. As a team the Eagles got 14 hits, including 3 from Breck Hensch, as well as a pair of hits from Guck, Bode Roberts and Ehnert.

Johnson picked up the win on the mound as he pitched 2 innings and struck out all 6 batters he faced. Ehnert struck out a pair of hitters in 2 innings, while Cody Barthel struck out 2 hitters as well. Oakes struck out 4 hitters in his long inning of action.

AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 3 2 2 2

Will Oakes 1 0 0 1

Bren Salo 2 0 0 1

Jon Rinerson 2 1 1 0

Jonah Johnson 2 1 0 0

Bode Roberts 4 0 2 0

Hunter Holtti 0 1 0 0

Hunter Fitzgerald 1 0 0 0

Brayden Ehnert 3 1 2 1

Breck Hensch 3 1 3 0

Isaac Page 1 1 1 0

Monte Briard 3 2 1 1

Cody Barthel 3 1 1 1

Jonah Ruther 3 0 1 0

HITTING- 2B- Breck Hensch, Jonah Ruther

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Jonah Johnson 2-0-0-0-0-6, Brayden Ehnert 2-0-0-0-1-4, Cody Barthel 1-0-0-0-1-2, Will Oakes 1-0-0-0-0-4

Friday

Jonah Johnson gave up just 1 hit and struck out 12 hitters as the second ranked Eagles defeated the seventh ranked South Ridge Panthers on Friday. The game was part of a triangular featuring three teams ranked in both Class A and Class AA. 

In the opening game of the day, Johnson gave up a one out single in the top of the first inning, before shutting down the Panthers on the way to a 4-0 win. Johnson retired 16 of the 17 hitters he faced in order from the top of the first inning until the third out in the top of the sixth inning. After hitting the opening batter of the top of the seventh inning, the Eagles forced a double play and Johnson struck out the final hitter of the game to come away with the 4-0 win. 

NY Mills got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning when Breck Hensch scored on a passed ball. The Eagles added another run in the bottom of the third inning when Johnson scored on a fielder’s choice to make the game 2-0. 

Bren Salo made the game 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning when he hit a sacrifice fly and the scoring came to a close one inning later when Will Oakes scored on a Cody Barthel RBI double. 

Johnson picked up the win on the mound and also led the team in hitting with a pair of hits. Bode Roberts also chipped in with 2 hits.

In the second game of the night, NY Mills fell to Wadena-Deer Creek by a score of 3-2. Both teams scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. The Wolverines struck first with a one out RBI double to make the game 2-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Salo scored on a bases loaded fielder’s choice by Oakes and Ehnert hit an RBI single to bring Johnson around to score to make the game 2-2. 

WDC broke the tie in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI double to make the game 3-2. Both teams had chances to put more runs on the board, but were unable to get the timely hit they needed as the Wolverines were able to hold on to defeat NY Mills for the second time this season. The Eagles fell to WDC by a score of 10-0 just two weeks ago. 

Guck took the loss on the mound as he pitched all 7 innings and gave up 9 hits, 3 earned runs, while striking out 5 hitters. The Eagles had just 4 hits in the game, compared to 9 for the Wolverines. 

The loss drops the Eagles to 9-2 on the season. 

Game one AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 2 1 0 0

Bren Salo 2 0 0 1

Jonah Johnson 3 1 2 0

Brayden Ehnert 3 0 0 1

Bode Roberts 3 0 2 0

Breck Hensch 3 1 2 0

Monte Briard 2 0 0 0

Will Oakes 1 1 1 0

Cody Barthel 3 0 1 1

Jonah Ruther 3 0 1 0

HITTING- 2B- Cody Barthel, Breck Hensch

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Jonah Johnson 7-1-0-0-2-12

Game two AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 4 0 1 0

Bren Salo 2 1 0 0

Bode Roberts 3 0 1 0

Will Oakes 1 0 0 1

Brayden Ehnert 3 0 1 1

Breck Hensch 3 0 0 0

Monte Briard 2 0 0 0

Sam Kopveiler 2 0 0 0

Jonah Ruther 3 0 0 0

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Jacob Guck 7-9-3-3-3-5