Improve to 4-0 in CCL-White
Belle Plaine’s patchwork lineup could not have played better as the Tigers won an important early-season CCL-White battle, 11-1 in 7 innings over Waconia Thursday night. The win gives Tigertown a twinkly 4-0 record in league play, while the second-place Lakers dropped to 2-1.
The Sons of Chatfield will next take the field 7:30pm Thursday night at the Shakopee Indians, a game that was previously rained out on May 23rd. On Friday, the Tigers will travel to St. Francis for another 7:30pm start time. On Sunday, El Tigre—which is Spanish for “The Tigre”—will return home to host Winthrop at 6:00pm. The Tiger 24 dismantled the Eagles 20-6 earlier this season but expect a much tougher battle this time.
Next weekend (June 11, 12, 13) the Tigertown Classic will be held at the ever-evolving confines of Tiger Park. But of course you already knew that. Get a tournament bracket and much, much more at www.bptigertown.com. “Together we can!”
Waconia 1 @ BP 11 (Thursday, May 27 – 7 innings)
The last time these two clubs locked horns, Belle Plaine beat the Lakers in playoff action as undisputed staff ace Rob Wagener never saw the hill. But this time the Wagener Power Painter got the nod, ready to face off against the undefeated (2-0) Shane Hofmann.
Belle Plaine came out a house afire, lashing five doubles in their first 13 plate appearances (including two each by Trace Selly and Pat Schultz) to take a 6-1 lead after two. The Tigers were missing a variety of players, including regulars Jeff Witt, Ryan Witt, and Adam Hoffman. The Tiger lineup featured three rookies, the seldom-used Brett Kruschke in left field, and waaay-former leadoff hitter Shane Hofmann in the batting lineup. Weird!
In the third, Selly used his “below-average” arm to nail Wagener at second, who was trying to stretch a single into a double. It was a momentum killer and the Lakers would not score again, as Hofmann faced just one batter over the minimum from that point on.
With Travis “Don’t call me Mimi” Van Doren in attendance and in relief of Wagener to start the fifth, the Tigers decided to “wipe ‘em out!” and sent nine men to the plate, scoring five.
Team Tigertown went 14-for-31 on the night, with five players enjoying multi-hit games. Leading the way were Pat Schultz (3-for-3), and Dan Huber (3-for-4). The Tigers also stole four bases behind the deactivated but aggressive third base coach, Jeff Witt.
It is early, but BP’s team average so far is .335; the team ERA 2.42. For comparison, they hit .255 last season with a 3.52 ERA. And thanks to their rigorous offseason training program, the club also has four home runs, as many as all of last year.
This page was created and maintained by Nick Kornder, Sports Information Director at Northern State University. The views and ideas on this page are that of the author, and not those of Northern State University.