Photos by Chad Koenen
Connor Davis connects with a pitch during the Region 5B baseball tournament in Bluffton.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Bluffton Braves had their season come to a close in the Region 5B elimination bracket on Saturday with a tough 2-1 loss to Fergus Falls. 

The Hurricanes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after scoring single runs in the first and third innings. After the third inning, Braves pitcher Isaac Hamann allowed just three more hitters to reach base the rest of the way, two of which came in the top of the seventh inning. 

Gabe Geiser watches as his hit heads to the outfield during the region tournament in Bluffton.

Unfortunately, Bluffton struggled a bit from the plate early on as the opening 14 hitters of the game were retired in order, until Kyle Dykhoff reached base with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

The lone run of the game for Bluffton came in the bottom of the seventh inning when Payton Rondestvedt reached base on a walk to kick off the inning. Connor Davis followed with a single, before Rondestvedt scored to make the game 2-1 in favor of Fergus Falls. Logan Pulju connected with a one out single to leave runners on first and second base, but a pair of pop outs ended the scoring chance and left the game at 2-1. 

The final scoring chance for the Braves came in the bottom of the ninth inning when Justin Dykhoff connected with a two out single, but he would be stranded at first base when the game came to a close. 

Hamann took the loss on the mound for the Braves as he pitched all nine innings and gave up just six hits and two runs, while striking out nine batters. 

Fergus Falls would go on to defeat the Ada A’s by a score of 3-2 in 13 innings to qualify as the top seed from Region 5B for the state tournament. Ada received the second state spot from Region 5B.

The loss ends the Braves season with a record of 16-4 overall after capturing the top spot in the Hi-10 league. 

Head coach Terry Geiser said he would like to thank the community of Bluffton, the team and all the volunteers who worked so hard to put the region tournament together in Bluffton over the past two weekends.

AB R H     BI

I Hamann 4 0 0 0

P Rondestvedt 3 1 0 0

C Davis 4 0 1 0

J Dykhoff 3 0 1 0

L Pulju 4 0 1 0

K Dykhoff 3 0 1 0

W Hamann 3 0 0 0

T Barthel 3 0 0 0

G Geiser 2 0 0 0

A Roleske 1 0 0 0

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Isaac Hamann 9-6-2-1-0-9