Gopher Baseball’s 4-1 Week Includes Big TRC Wins

It was a big week again for Chatfield baseball.  The Gophers lost their first game, but went 4-1 with three big TRC victories.  Chatfield (#7 in AA, 7-0, 10-0) started with key TRC-West doubleheader against second place PEM (8-1, 10-2).  Game one saw Chatfield lead 1-0 before authoring an 11-run fourth inning.  Up 12-0, all seemed kosher until PEM authored an 8-run bottom of five (making it 12-8).   But the Gophers scored five in the top of the seventh and prevailed 17-8.  Jackson Schild (3-4, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R), Luke Carrier (3-5, RBI, 3 R), and Carter Daniels (3-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R) had three hits.  Caden Nolte (2-3, 3 RBI, R), Drew Schindler (2-5, 2 RBI, 2 R), Connor Jax (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R), and Caden Boyum (2-4, RBI, 2 R) had two hits.  Chatfield had 17 as a team.  PEM had 10 hits.  Jameston Brinkman (2-4, two 2B, 2 R) had multiple knocks.  Nolte (6 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K) got the win giving up eight unearned runs.  The teams combined for seven errors.  Game two then went deep into the night. PEM scored three combined in the first two innings.  Chatfield scored three combined in the fourth and fifth.  Chatfield’s two-run fifth came with two outs.  The game went to extra innings tied 3-3.  PEM plated a run in the eighth via an error.  With the bases loaded in Chatfield’s eighth, Carrier walked, plating the tying run (4-4).  In the bottom of the 10th, Chatfield’s first three batters reached, but PEM got out of the bases-loaded, no-out jam, aided by two home-plate-put-out fielder’s choices.  PEM scored two runs in the top of the 11th, both with two out, both via an infield error.  They led 6-4 heading to Chatfield’s 11th.  But it took the Gophers just four batters to plate three runs.  After the first two reached, an infield error allowed each to score, tying the game 6-6.  After moving to third on a stolen base and wild pitch, Connor Jax scored the winning run on a Caden Nolte single.  Chatfield won 7-6 in walk-off fashion!  Drew O’Connor (3-5, RBI), Boyum (2-5, RBI, 2 R), and Jack Dornack (2-5, 2B, R) had multiple hits.  Jax (1-6, 2 RBI, 2 R) was big help.  Daniels (7 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, No Decision) had a qualify start.  Boyum (3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K) got the relief win.  Jason Feils (2-5, 2B, 2 R) and Baden Fenton (2-5, 2 R) led PEM.  Only two of their runs were via RBI.  For the two games, Chatfield pitchers were credited with just one earned run.  The Gophers then dropped their first game, 3-1 to St. Charles.  They’d plated at least seven runs in every other game.  Kaleb Schultz-Schweitzer (5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K) took the win for SC.  O’Connor (1-3, RBI, 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 12 K) took the loss.  Jax (1-3) scored the Gopher run.  But they got back to winning in a Saturday doubleheader.  Versus TRC-East leading La Crescent/Hokah, the Lancers first batter scored, and they plated an insurance run in top of the seventh to lead 2-0.  The Gophers then had four hits in the bottom of the inning, with Jax and Nolte providing RBIs.  Chatfield tied the game 2-2.  In the ninth, the Gophers loaded the bases.  Schindler singled home Jax for the game-winning run, as Chatfield prevailed 3-2.  Schindler (4-5, RBI), Jax (2-5, 2B, 3B, RBI, 2 R), and Nolte (2-5, RBI, 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) did big work.  Jax’s double came in the seventh, the triple in the ninth.  Daniels (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Win), O’Connor (2-3), and Boyum (1-4, R) helped.  The Gophers then overcame a 2-0 first inning deficit versus Pine Island to beat the Panthers 4-2.  Carrier (2-2, RBI, 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K), Daniels (2-4, 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, Win), Jax (1-3, 2 R), Nolte (1-3, RBI), and Schindler (1-3, RBI) did work.  Brian Baum’s group (10-1, 14-1) controls the TRC West over D-E (7-3, 9-3) and PEM (8-4, 11-6).