Solid pitching, squeeze help Mudhens win

Jesse Drager and new Mudhen James Chalky were early for their ride to Dawson for Wednesday night's game.

"So me and James went out and hit to each other. I took a ton of bunts, a ton of bunts," said Drager.

It paid off at Dawson when, in the seventh inning, with the game tied at 1-1, Drager squeezed home Henry Pesch with the go-ahead run, 2-1 in the seventh inning.

"It paid off," Drager said about all that bunting practice. The Mudhens went on to beat Dawson, 3-1 as the Canby boys, Bryce Gorder and Zach Nuy pitched a combined four-hitter, strking out 10 batters while walking just two.

Gorder had six of those strikeouts during his 60-pitch five innings of work.

Nuy mopped up, allowing just one hit the rest of the way.

Minneota banged out eight hits, two by Jake Leighton. One was a double. Tyson Sonnenburg's single and stolen base in the seventh started the rally and Henry Pesch's double kept it going.  That's when Drager came along with his well-practiced bunt.

Minneota added an insurance run in the eighth. Jordan Beck and eventually scored after singles by Leighton and Durfee.

Dawson's only hurrah came in the fourth when they put long shots together from Derek Gritmacher, who coasted into third and a long single by Josh Staab. After that, Gorder and Nuy did the rest.

Minneota is now 10-5 on the year and don't play again until they host Cottonwood next Wednesday, June 27 during Kid's Night.

Minneota 3, Dawson 1
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Preston Nuy, 3b 5-0-1-0; Jake Leighton, lf 4-0-2-0; Adam Durfee, ss 4-0-1-1; Tyson Sonnenburg, cf 4-1-1-0; Henry Pesch, rf 4-0-1-1; Jesse Drager, 2b 3-0-1-1; James Chalky, pr 0-0-0-0; Noah Scott, c 3-0-1-0; Thomas Fischer, cr 0-0-0-0; Danny Hennen, 1b 3-0-1-0; Cal Swedzinski, ph 1-0-0-0; Jordan Beck, dh 2-1-0-0; Bryce Gorder, p 0-0-0-0; Zach Nuy, p 0-0-0-0; Austin Buysse, ph 0-0-0-0. Totals 34-3-9-3.
DAWSON (AB-R-H-RBI) Braxton Thompson, 2b-3b 4-0-0-0; Braeden Thompson, ss-p 4-0-0-0; Esten Weber, c 4-0-1-0; Derek Gritmacher, 3b-p 4-1-2-0; Josh Staab, p-2b 3-0-1-1; Scott Ochsendorf, 1b 3-0-0-0; Jordan Kack, lf 4-0-0-0; Ken Sather, rf 3-0-0-0; Tim Cariveau, cf 3-0-0-0. Totals 31-1-4-1.
Score by Innings:
Minneota        000 000 210 — 3 9 1
Dawson        000 100 000 — 1 4 0
E-Minneota: Durfee. LOB-Minneota: 7; Dawson 6. SB-Minneota: Sonnenburg, Chalky; Dawson: Weber. SAC-Minneota-Drager. DP-Dawson 5-3 (1). 2B-Minneota: Leighton. 3B-Minneota: Pesch; Dawson: Gritmacher.
Pitching        IP   R    ER    H    BB    K
Minneota
Gorder        5     1    1        3     1       6
Nuy (W)      4     0    0        1     1       4
Dawson
Staab (L)    7     2    2        6     0       1
Gritmacher 1     1    1        2     1       1

Thompson  1     0    0        1     1       1
WP-Thompson. PB-Scott.