Home run puts Elko on express route to win over Muskies

Elko shortstop Easton Richter slapped a quick tag on New Market’s Jake Lundquist at second base early in the Express’s 7-3 win over New Market Friday, June 21, at Fredrickson Field. Richter hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning that gave his team the win. (John Mueller photo)

A seventh-inning home run broke a 3-3 tie and allowed Elko to top its crosstown rival, the New Market Muskies, 7-3, Friday evening, June 21, at Fredrickson Field.

The Express jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second inning only to have the Muskies tie the game in the third.

Elko retook the lead in the third, 3-2, in the home half of the third frame. New Market rallied with a run in the sixth inning to even the score at 3-apiece.

The Express took the lead for good in the seventh inning when Easton Richter ripped an opposite-field home run to give Elko a 4-3 advantage, allowing the Express to cruise to the victory with three more runs later in the contest.

The win was part of a successful weekend for Elko. Sunday, June 23, the Express topped Hampton, 7-1. Details of the game were not available when The New Prague Times went to press.

The wins improve Elko’s overall record to 13-5, 7-1 against Section 1 opponents and 5-1 in the always-grueling DRS.

Orioles 4, PL Mudcats 3 After a slow start the Orioles defeated the Prior Lake Mudcats, 4-3, Sunday, June 23. In the top of the first inning, the Orioles made a pair of errors with two outs allowing the Mudcats to take an early lead. Three hits in the sixth inning by Johnny Houston, Ben Morrison and Cole Fleek gave Prior Lake a three-run lead.

Aiden Dorzinski had the Orioles first hit in the fifth inning to break up the no-hitter, but it would be the next three innings when New Prague finally crossed the plate. New Prague scored twice in the bottom of the sixth when Tommy McBroom drove in Gavin Bergman and Anthony Mader with a single to left. In the seventh frame, Anthony Mader reached on an error and then scored when Eric Wagner hit a line drive off the left field wall. In the bottom of the eighth, James Fuerniss put the Orioles on top with a home run into the trees beyond the left field fence.

Gavin Bergman started for the Orioles and allowed just two earned runs in 6.2 innings of work. Matt Zweber picks up the win for the O’s, throwing 3.1 innings of scoreless baseball. Alex Watterman started for the Mudcats with Ben Morrison saddled with the loss.

Union Hill 6, PL Mudcats 2 The Bulldogs outhit Prior Lake, 8-2, while its pitchers struck out eight and allowed a single walk in the June 19 game in Prior Lake.

Union Hill erased a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the third inning when Nate Lee and Jonny Connelly scored. Lee opened the inning with a home run. In the eighth inning, after PL scored its second run, Eric Berg and Nate Osborne both scored. Lee and Connelly both scored insurance runs in the ninth to ice the win.

Union Hill hurlers Charlie Otteson and Jake Hemann kept the PL attack in the bat rack. Both struck out four batters. Otteson walked one in seven innings of work. Collectively, they stranded five Prior Lake runners.

Joe Becker, Eric Berg and Lee paced the Bulldogs with two hits apiece. Becker drove in two runs.

Montgomery 10, Elko 5 The Mallards and Elko Express took advantage of a rare night without rain Wednesday, June 12, for a cross-class DRS game at Fredrickson Field.

The Mallards jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Dawson Pint scored on a fielder’s choice.

Elko added a couple of its own, taking a 4-1 lead after three but the Mallards tied it in the top of the fourth, loading the bases on singles from Cole Pint and Max Krautkremer and a walk to Aaron Dwyer. A Kyle Hintz groundout scored one, followed by two more on a Jack Barnett single.

The Express added an unearned run in the fourth to pull ahead, 5-4, but the Mallards blew the game open with five runs in the sixth frame, all with two outs. Pat Lloyd drove in the first run of the inning, followed by a Ben Anderson RBI single with the big blow of the inning a three-run home run off the bat of Smith. The Mallards added one insurance run in the eighth on a home run from Anderson.

Elko hitters started with two doubles and a home run in the first inning, the Mallard pitchers took over, allowing only two more runs, both unearned, over the next 26 outs. Jack Barnett started on the mound, working the first three frames, striking out four and walking none. Kyle Hintz got the win, working two innings allowing just one unearned run. Nolan Readmond threw three scoreless frames and Brandon Gentz came on to finish the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Minnesota Baseball classifies teams as either B or C, based upon a calculation of population, level of college experience on the roster and state tournament success the last five years. Ten DRS teams are currently in Class C, with Elko, New Market and St. Patrick classified as Class B. New to the DRS league in 2024, games between the classes do not impact standings or playoff seeding.

Montgomery 20, Shakopee 5 The Mallards bats picked right up where they left off in Elko, pounding out 20 runs in 22 hits, including five doubles and two home runs home runs against the Shakopee Coyotes Wednesday, June 19.

Nolan Readmond started on the mound for the Mallards and despite giving up four runs in the bottom of the first, held the Coyotes scoreless in his next two innings of work.

Jack Barnett pitched the middle three innings for the Ducks, allowing no hits and one earned run while Brandon Gentz pitched a 1-2-3 seventh before the game was shortened due to the 10-run rule.

The Mallard bats were hot right from the start, scoring two runs in each of the first three innings, before exploding for five runs in the fifth and putting the Coyotes away for good with nine more in the top of the sixth. All nine Mallard starters tallied at least one hit with Ben Anderson, Cole Pint and Tom Flicek getting three each and Johnny Krocak and Pat Lloyd banging out four. Lloyd, Ryan Iverson, Krocak, Flicek and Anderson hit doubles with Pint and Anderson slugging home runs. Iverson, Anderson and Pint also drove in four runs with Lloyd knocking in three.

Veseli fourth at Elrosa The Warriors opened the tournament with a 13-1 win over Royalton.

Host Elrosa, led by tournament MVP Jackson Peter, topped the Warriors, 1-0, in the semifinal round. The Saints went on to win the tournament for the third consecutive year.

Fergus Falls topped Veseli in the third-place game, 6-2. Details from the Warriors’ three games were not available at press time.

DRS standings (As of Sunday, June 23)

Team     W L    Streak

New Prague 8 2 W2

Union Hill 7 2 W5

Webster 5 1 W4

Montgomery 6 5 W1

Prior Lake 5 4 L2

St. Benedict 2 4 L4

Lonsdale 3 6 W1

Faribault 3 6 W1

Veseli 2 6 L4

Shakopee 1 6 L2

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