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Eric Wieneke
The Hadley Buttermakers lost an exhibition game to Renner on Friday but rebounded to stay unbeaten in league play when they took care of the Worthington Cubs on Sunday Here is the week’s recap:
Friday at Renner
Renner 7, Hadley 4 Hadley traveled to Renner, SD on a very windy Friday night to take on the independent Renner Rangers. Hadley was looking to stay unbeaten, but the Rangers prevailed in shutting down the Buttermaker bats. Avery Weber would start on the mound for Hadley and would keep the Rangers scoreless.
Hadley would take the lead in the 2nd inning. Max Zwart would single to start off the inning. Max would advance to end 2nd on a stolen base and then come around to score on single by Danny Blankenship, Austin Evans came into pitch and for Avery and the Rangers took advantage of the pitching change as Renner greeted Evans with 4 hits and scored 5 runs to take the lead. Two Buttermaker errors aided in the Rangers’ scoring. Hadley would get back a run in the 4th inning off back-to-back doubles from Brent Hokeness and Danny Blankenship.
In the 5th, Hadley would make a comeback. Hadley would score 2 times to close the lead to 5-4. resulting in a Renner pitching change. An inadvertent time-out call by the umpire erased a run for Hadley to tie the game. Renner would add on 2 more runs against Evans on 3 singles and 2 hit batters to go up 7-4.
Hadley was unable to do anything else the rest of the game as they fell 7-5.
For Hadley, Danny Blankenship led Hadley with 3 hits and 2 rbis. Max Zwart, Jaden Deacon and Brent Hokeness would chip in with 2 hits each with Tucker Sorenson adding Hadley’s other hit. Brent Hokeness and Max Zwart each picked up a rbi. Austin Evans took the loss for Hadley. Skyler Feikema and Sam Erickson saw mound duty.
Final Box Score
RH E Hadley 4 9 2 Renner 7 10 2
Sunday at Worthington
Hadley 7, Worthington 3 Hadley stayed unbeaten in league play after taking down the Cubs even though the Cubs out hit the veteran Buttermaker squad. Hadley made beneficial use of the hits they picked up. Bryce Ahrendt would once again take the mound for Hadley.
Hadley would plate a run in the 2nd inning. Max Zwart would walk and reach 2nd base on a stolen base. Derek Kluis would single later in the at bat to score Zwart. Hadley would duplicate actions in the 3rd. Jaden Deacon lead-off with a walk and steal 2nd to advance. Jaden would move to 3rd on an infield groundout and come into score on an Evan Lenz groundout. Hadley would add to their lead when they scored runs in the 6th to go up 6-0. Hadley would load the bases on 2 walks and a hit batter. Danny Blankenship would single to score 2 runs and then Eric Wieneke would follow with a run scoring hit. Hadley’s final run would come in on a Derek Kluis ground out.
Bryce Ahrendt would keep the Cubs off the scoreboard through 4 innings. Worthington would pick up their first hit off Ahrendt in the 4th inning. In the 6th, Worthington finally score off Ahrendt. After a Buttermaker fielding error. Worthington would collect a run scoring double and single to pull to 6-2.
Tucker Sorenson came in to pitch in the 7th. Worthington would put runners on 1st and 2nd in the 7th but fail to score and then Worthington loaded the bases with no outs in the 8th. Tucker Sorensen was able to get a strikeout, ground ball force out at the plate and a routine comebacker to stifle the Cubs scoring effort.
Hadley would add an insurance run in the 9th when they loaded the bases with no outs on 2 walks and a Cub error. The Cub reliever was able to strikeout the Buttermakers to end their scoring opportunity, but Derek Klus would reach after the pitch got by the catcher on strike three to allow Evan Lenz to scamper home. Worthington would get a lead-off triple in the bottom of the inning and the runner would score on a passed ball. Sorensen would get the last out on strikeout to end the game at 7-3 in Hadley’s favor.
Brent Hokeness, Tucker Sorensen, Derek Kluis, Danny Blankenship, and Eric Wieneke collected Hadley’s hits. Blankenship and Kluis got credit for 2 rbis each with Evan Lenz and Eric Wieneke getting 1 rbi each. Bryce Ahrendt picked up the victory and recorded 11 strikeouts. Tucker Sorenson earned the save striking out 6 Cub batters.
Final Box Score
RHE Hadley 7 5 3 Worthington 3 7 3 Hadley will return home on Memorial Day when they face Heron Lake with a 2:00 pm game start.
