AMATEUR BASEBALL: Pirates knock off Cubs 13-5

WORTHINGTON — Windom Pirate pitcher Nick Kulseth didn’t need many pitches to take care of the Worthington Cubs on Wednesday night.

On a rain soaked night at the Worthington Middle School Field, Kulseth only needed one pitch to throw a complete game, and down the Worthington Cubs 13-5.

“I strictly have one pitch, and my game is to throw strikes, and rely on my defense,” Kulseth said.

Windom started off the scoring early. In the top of the first, Chad Lindaman scored off of a fielder’s choice off the bat of Pirate first baseman Kirby Johnson (3-for-4). The next batter, Brett Mattson (3-for5) knocked in shortstop Brandon Thongvivang (3-for-6) to put the Pirates up 2-0, going into the bottom of the first.

The Cubs responded quickly, scoring two runs of their own in the bottom of the first, with an RBI single up the middle by starting pitcher Adam Munkel (1-for-4). The Cubs later added another run in the bottom of the second, with Gilo Mejia (1-for-3) scoring on a Pirate error, to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Cubs.

Windom answered back, with two runs scored in the second by Lindaman and Thongvivong, to put the Pirates back up 4-3.

The Pirates added three more runs in the top of the fourth, with an RBI single up the middle by Johnson to knock in Lindaman, and another RBI single by designated hitter Mattson, to widen the lead to 6-3. Again in the fourth, Windom catcher Danny Kneeland (1-for-4) scored on a Brandon Thongvivong single to left, to further the gap to four runs, with the score being 7-3.

The Cubs kept chipping away, when in the bottom of the fourth, Cubs right fielder Zach Heidebrink (1-for-2) scored on a fielder’s choice to make the score 7-4. The Cubs then narrowed the gap to two, with a run scored by Cubs center fielder Mitch Jensen (1-for-5) off a deep left field double that rolled all the way to the fence by Cubs first baseman Josh Wasmund (2-for-3), to keep it close, making the score 7-5.

The Pirates added another two runs in the top of the sixth, with a run scored by Johnson off of a Mattson single up the middle, who later scored on a Cubs error to make the score 8-5.

The Cubs didn’t score another run for the rest of the night, thanks to contact pitching, and a solid defense.

“I don’t rely on strikeouts, or getting outs myself, I rely on my defense to back me up, and my defense played awesome tonight, and they did a great job,” Kulseth said.

The Pirates kept the offense going, however, and added four more runs in the ninth inning. Brett Oltmans (1-for-4) had a solid base hit into left-center, and was later cored on a fielders choice ball hit by Thongvivang. Darren Tiets, (1-for-5) also hit a sharp singlel, and scored on another Cub error. Both Johnson and Mattson scored again later in the inning.

“They were really putting good contact on the ball, it was just luckily going to my guys,” Kulseth said.

R H E

Windom 202 302 004 — 13 15 3

Cubs 210 110 000 — 5 5 5

Jackson 6, HL 0

JACKSON — Ryan Rasche got the win on the mound, striking out 10 hitters in eight innings for Jackson (6-7, 6-4) in First Nite League amateur baseball action Wednesday.

Caleb Rossow was 3-for-4 RBI and Andy Wolf was 2-for-3 with two RBIs for the Bulls.

Ben Scheevel was 2-for-4 with a double and Tom Albrecht got the loss on the mound, pitching seven innings and giving up three earned runs, while striking out seven for Heron Lake (8-4, 7-3).

Jackson will head to Hadley Sunday and Heron Lake will host Lakefield and Worthington Sunday.

R H E

HL 000 000 000 — 0 4 3

Jackson 030 000 21X — 6 8 0

Tags: amateur baseball, heron lake, sports, baseball, windom, worthington, jackson