Eagles pick up two wins in PRC

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

There may have been a few more gray hairs and fingers nails that were bitten down quite a bit last week as the New York Mills Eagles 4-1 in a busy week of action. All four wins were either by 1 or 2 runs as the Eagles improved to 10-3 overall. NY Mills’ lone loss came to the hands of South Ridge by a score of 7-3 on Friday night.

Currently the Eagles are ranked eighth in the state and will host Wadena-Deer Creek on Tuesday, before hosting Sebeka on Friday. 

Monday

Trailing 6-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, NY Mills scored 4 runs to blow past Browerville by a score of 7-6 on Monday night. Jonah Ruther got the scoring going in the bottom of the sixth inning when he hit an RBI double to bring Jon Rinerson across the plate with one out. After a Monte Briard walk loaded the bases, Brayden Ehnert tied the game at 6-6 when he hit a 2-run single to leave runners on the corners. 

Bode Roberts followed when he was swinging at the first pitch and hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring Ruther across the plate and give the Eagles the lead for good by a score of 7-6. 

The Tigers were able to get the tying run on base in the top of the seventh inning when Irsfeld reached on a two out single, but Sam Kopveiler quickly ended the scoring chance by forcing a pop out to give the Eagles the 7-6 win. 

Kopveiler picked up the win on the mound as he pitched 5 innings of relief and struck out 6 hitters, while giving up just 2 earned runs. 

Offensively the Eagles were led by Ehnert who had 3 hits, while Waylen Fudge finished with 2 hits of hit own. 

Tuesday

NY Mills overcame an early deficit to blow past Sebeka thanks to a pair of 3-run innings on Tuesday night by a score of 8-6. Both teams combined for 24 hits in a strong offensively showing by both teams. 

Trailing 4-1 heading into the top of the second inning the Eagles tied the game at 4-4 thanks to a Monte Briard two out, 2-run double and a Brayden Ehnert RBI double to tie the score up at 4-4. Sebeka quickly answered with a run in the bottom of the second inning to once again take the lead by a score of 5-4, before  Will Oakes came through with a clutch bases clearing double with two outs in the top of the fourth inning to give NY Mills a 7-5 lead. 

NY Mills added another run in the top of the fifth inning on a passed ball to come away with an 8-6 road win over the Trojans. 

The Eagles were led offensively by Briard and Ehnert who each finished with 3 hits, while Roberts finished with a pair of hits of his own. In all, the Eagles finished with six doubles in the win. 

Oakes secured the win on the mound as he went 5 innings and gave up 6 earned runs and 9 hits, while striking out 5 batters. 

Thursday

NY Mills jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and Jonah Ruther broke a tie in the top of the sixth inning with a solo home run as the Eagles avenged an earlier loss this season to Otter Tail Central by a score of 6-5 on Thursday night. 

Brayden Ehnert gave the Eagles an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning when he connected with a 3-run home run.

Just one inning later, Ehnert put the Eagles in front by a score of 4-0 when he hit an RBI single with two outs, before Bode Roberts followed with an RBI double of his own to give NY Mills an early 5-0 lead. 

After OTC was able to claw back into the game and tie it at 5-5 with a 3-run bottom of the fourth inning, Ruther connected with an eventual game winning home run with two outs in the top of the sixth inning over the left field wall to make the score 6-5 in favor of NY Mills. Ruther and Ehnert shut the door on any thought of a comeback by OTC in the sixth and seventh innings to help the Eagles come away with the Park Region Conference win.

Ruther picked up the win on the mound as he went 6 innings and gave up 10 hits, but just 3 earned runs. He struck out 4 hitters. Ehnert secured the save by pitching a scoreless seventh inning and struck out 2 hitters. 

Monte Briard and Ehnert led the way offensively with 2 hits apiece. 

Friday

Smith Park was filled with baseball fans from NY Mills, Ashby and the Iron Range on Friday as four games were held in NY Mills. Cherry, Ashby, South Ridge and NY Mills each played a pair of games beginning at 12 p.m. and closing with a game between South Ridge and NY Mills on Friday night.

The Eagles split their games against Cherry and South Ridge to finish a busy week with a 4-1 record. 

In their game against Cherry, the Eagles won a thriller against Cherry by a score of 6-5 thanks to some bottom of the seventh inning heroics. Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, DaShaun Robinson hit an RBI single with two outs to bring Brayden Ehnert across the plate to tie the game at 5-5. Will Oakes followed with a game winning fielder’s choice on a bunt that brought Finn Roder across the plate from third base to give the Eagles a 6-5 win. 

Robinson picked up the win on the mound in relief of Ehnert who pitched the first 6 2/3 innings and gave up just 2 earned runs, while striking out 7 hitters. Robinson pitched the final 1/3 inning of the seventh inning and recorded an out to secure the win.

In the final game of the busy day of baseball, South Ridge broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the sixth inning with 2 runs, while adding another 2 runs in the top of the seventh inning to come away with a 7-3 win over the Eagles. NY Mills scored a single run in the first, second and third inning, but came up just short in their bid for a five win week. 

NYM vs. Browerville

5 p.m.

AB R H     BI

Jonah Ruther 3 2 1 1

Monte Briard 2 2 1 0

Brayden Ehnert 3 1 3 2

Bode Roberts 3 0 0 4

Dashaun Robinson 3 0 0 0

Will Oakes 3 0 0 0

Waylen Fudge 3 0 2 0

Sam Kopveiler 1 1 0 0

Teagan Lausten 2 0 0 0

Hunter Holtti 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- 

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Hunter Holtti 2.0-1-3-3-4-3, Sam Kopveiler 5.0-4-3-2-2-6

NYM vs. Sebeka

4:30 p.m.

AB R H     BI

Jonah Ruther 5 0 0 0

Monte Briard 5 1 3 2

Brayden Ehnert 3 2 3 1

Bode Roberts 4 0 2 1

Dashaun Robinson 2 1 1 0

Will Oakes 3 0 1 3

Waylen Fudge 3 0 1 0

Sam Kopveiler 3 2 1 0

Teagan Lausten 3 1 1 0

Isaac Page 1 0 0 0

Rowland Dykhoff 0 0 0 0

Hunter Holtti 0 1 0 0

Jon Rinerson 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Monte Briard, Brayden Ehnert 2, Waylen Fudge, Sam Kopveiler, Will Oakes

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Will Oakes 5.0-9-6-6-1-5, Bode Roberts 2.0-2-0-0-1-3

NYM vs. OTC

4:30 p.m.

AB R H     BI

Jonah Ruther 3 2 1 1

Monte Briard 3 2 2 0

Brayden Ehnert 3 1 2 4

Bode Roberts 4 0 1 1

Dashaun Robinson 3 0 1 0

Will Oakes 4 0 0 0

Waylen Fudge 4 0 0 0

Sam Kopveiler 2 0 0 0

Teagan Lausten 3 1 1 0

Jon Rinerson 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Monte Briard 2, Bode Roberts

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Jonah Ruther 6.0-10-4-3-2-4, Brayden Ehnert 1.0-0-0-0-0-2

NYM vs. Cherry (Iron, MN)

12 p.m.

AB R H     BI

Jonah Ruther 3 1 0 0

Monte Briard 3 0 0 0

Brayden Ehnert 4 2 2 1 Bode Roberts 4 0 2 2

Dashaun Robinson 3 0 1 1

Will Oakes 3 0 1 1

Waylen Fudge 3 0 0 0

Hunter Holtti 3 0 0 0

Teagan Lausten 3 2 0 0

Finn Roder 0 1 0 0

Sam Kopveiler 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Brayden Ehnert 2

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Brayden Ehnert 6.2-8-5-2-3-7, Dashaun Robinson 0.1-0-0-0-1-0

NYM vs. South Ridge

AB R H     BI

Jonah Ruther 4 1 1 0

Monte Briard 4 0 2 1

Brayden Ehnert 2 0 1 0

Bode Roberts 4 0 0 0

Dashaun Robinson 2 0 1 0

Will Oakes 3 0 1 0

Sam Kopveiler 3 0 0 0

Jon Rinerson 2 1 0 0

Rowland Dykhoff 2 0 1 0

Hunter Holtti 1 0 0 0

Finn Roder 0 1 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Monte Briard 2, Rowland Dykhoff, Brayden Ehnert, Will Oakes, Dashaun Robinson, Jonah Ruther

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Dashaun Robinson 5.1-5-5-3-2-3, Monte Briard 1.2-3-2-2-1-2