Friday - Hadley vs. Springfield
Hadley travelled northeast to take on perennial state tourney qualifier and 2-time State Champions, the Springfield Tigers, in the Buttermakers first ever appearance at Springfield Riverside Park. This would be Hadley’s second exhibition friendly game of the week. Both teams were playing with short squads as many of the regular starters were missing. Both managers were not sure what to expect this Friday night. The game turned out to be a long, messy, hard-fought game; fortunately for Hadley, things bounced the right way for the Buttermakers.
Austin Irlbeck would start out by reaching 1st base on an infield single in the top of the inning. Austin would advance to 3rd, but Hadley would be unable to bring him around. Avery Weber started on the mound for Hadley and Springfield would greet Avery with the first seven Tiger batters reaching base on 5 hits, a walk and hit batter. Avery would work get out of the inning by allowing only four Tigers to score and leaving the bases loaded.
Hadley would score a run in the 2nd to cut the lead to 4-1. With 1 out, Jacob Van Dam would hit a foul fly ball to rightfield that would pop out of the glove giving Jacob second life at the plate. Jacob would reach base on a walk, After Peyton Coulter moved Jacob to 2nd base. Sam Erickson would step up and fly out to the right fielder that would once again drop the ball allowing Van Dam to come around and score. Springfield would put a runner on 3rd in the bottom of the inning, but Avery would leave him stranded there.
Springfield’s defensive misplays would continue in the 3rd. Two more errors and 4 Buttermaker hits would account for 6 Hadley runs and 7-4 Buttermaker lead. Hadley had a chance to score more, but left the bases loaded. Springfield would tie the game in the 4th on 4 straight hits.
Evan Lenz would take over for Avery Weber in the 5th inning keeping Springfield off the boards. In the 6th, Evan would run into trouble. Evan would have trouble finding the strike zone as he would walk 4 consecutive Tiger batters forcing Manager Myron Bennett to make a pitching change. Jacob Van Dan took over. Jacob would allow a single to bring in two more Tiger runners and a 10-7 lead. Jacob would get out of the inning, leaving the bases full of Tigers.
Hadley would cut the lead to one as they came back with 2 runs on a Evan Lenz single and a Tiger fielding error. Hadley would tie the game at 10 in the 8th. After Brent Hokeness led off with a double, Jacob Van Dam would single to tie the game. Van Dam would put the Tigers down in order moving the game to the 9th all even.
In Hadley’s at bat in the 9th, Denver Decker would reach on a walk. Denver would successfully steal 2nd and move to 3rd when the throw by the catcher sailed into centerfield. After getting Austin Irlbeck to strikeout, Evan Lenz would pick-up another run scoring single to put Hadley up 11-10. Hadley would strand Lenz at 2nd base, failing to add an additional insurance run.
Just three outs away from a victory, things would get interesting for Hadley. Van Dam would hit the first Tiger batter on a 1-2 count. Things got a little more interesting when Jacob would botch a ground ball back to the mound to put two Tiger runners on base. A sacrifice bunt would put the Tiger runners in scoring position. Jacob would record a strikeout for the second out. The next batter would hit a ground ball to Evan Lenz at short. Evan’s throw to Sam Erickson at 1st base would be low, but on time as Sam controlled the throw on the ground to preserve Hadley’s victory.
Evan Lenz led Hadley at the plate by going 3 for 5 and picking up 2 rbis and Jacob Van Dam went 2 for 4 with 2 rbis. Tucker Sorenson, Brent Hokeness and Alex Petersen all would collect a hit and 1-rbi. Austin Irlbeck picked up Hadley’s other hit. Jacob Van Dam would record the win to move his record to 1-1 for the season.
Final Box Score
RHE Hadley 11 9 3 Springfield 10 11 10
Sunday June 4
Sunday brought about Hadley’s long eastern First Nite League doubleheader road trip of the season.
Game 1
Game 1 for the day had Hadley travelling to Truman to take on the Fox Lake Foxes. With the scheduled doubleheader, the contest would be a 7-inning game. With the hot, humid playing conditions; a shortened game was a positive for the Buttermakers. Sam Erickson started on the hill for Hadley. Hits were scarce in the early innings for both teams.
Hadley was able to pick up an early run in the 2nd inning. Alex Petersen and Trent Carlson would walk, and Kyler Deacon would single to score Petersen for a 1-0 lead. In the 3rd inning Evan Lenz would lead-off the inning with a double, but Hadley would leave him stranded on 3rd base. Fox Lake would pick up their first two hits off Erickson in the 4th inning. It looked like Sam would get out of the inning unscathed as he got the 3rd out on a strikeout, but the ball would get by catcher, Trent Carlson allowing the Fox Lake runner to score to tie the game. Sam would get out of the inning, leaving Fox Lake runners on 2nd and 3rd.
Hadley would make the best out of the least when they scored 3 runs on just 1 hit in the 5th inning. Fox Lake would counter with 2 runs of their own after collecting 4 hits off Erickson for a 4-3 Hadley lead. In the 6th inning, Hadley would collect 3 more runs in the on 2 hits. Hadley would end their scoring in the 7th when they plated 4 runs on only 2 hits. Evan Lenz would pick up a 2-run scoring triple for the big hit. Three Fox errors also contributed to the Buttermaker scoring. Fox Lake would get back 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th on 3 hits and 2 Buttermaker fielding errors as the game ended in the favor of the Buttermakers at 11-6.
Evan Lenz kept his hot hitting going as he went 4-4, with 2 doubles, 1 triple and a single: collecting 5 rbis. Kyler Deacon went 1-1 with 2 rbis. Alex Petersen and Austin Irlbeck picked up Hadley’s other hits. Austin Irlbeck, Brent Hokeness and Max Zwart were credited with 1 rbi each. Sam Erickson went the distance on the mound to pick up his 2nd win of the season.
Final Box Score
RHE Hadley 11 7 5 Fox Lake 6 9 3
Game 2
Hadley headed south for the second game to take on the First Nite leading, undefeated Fairmont Martins. Herb Wolf Field has never been a very hospitable park for Hadley to play at, with frequent heartbreaking losses and blow-outs suffered by the Buttermakers. Tucker Sorenson was given the duty to shut down the experienced Martin squad.
Hadley would have opportunities to score in the first 4 innings, but Hadley could not get that big hit: always leaving runners in scoring position. Fairmont, however; would get to Tucker Sorenson in the 1st inning as the first 4 batters would reach on hits; scoring 3 times for an early lead 3-0 lead. Tucker would find his groove and allow Fairmont only 1 more hit for the rest of the contest and keeping the Martins scoreless. Could Hadley get the bats going? The answer – Yes!
In the 6th, the hit parade started as Hadley would pick up 7 hits, score 7 runs, bringing 12 batters to the plate, causing a Fairmont pitching change to go up 7-3. Hadley would pick up 4 more insurance runs in the 7th to extend their advantage to 113. Tucker Sorenson would shut the Martins down 1-2-3 for the big victory. Tucker Sorenson would pick up his first victory; striking out 11 Martin batters in the 7-inning game while walking just 2.
Alex Petersen and Danny Blankenship led Hadley’s hitting attack each going 3-4 for the game. Evan Lenz and Austin Irlbeck would go 2-5. Brent Hokeness, Max Zwart, Trent Carlson, Denver Decker, and Kyler Deacon would all pick up 1 hit. Alec Petersen and Austin Irlbeck would each get 2 rbis. Evan Lenz, Brent Hokeness, Max Zwart and Trent Carlson would each get credit for 1 rbi. Hadley’s record goes to 5-2 overall with a 3-2 record in league play.
Final Box Score
RHE Hadley 11 15 0 Fairmont 3 5 4 Hadley will take on the Marshall A’s at Legion Field on Wednesday evening and will have their home opener on Sunday when the Gopher League leading Luverne Redbirds come to town.
