With the calendar flipping to July this weekend, amateur baseball teams in Region 13C are starting to turn up the intensity a little as the league playoffs are only a little more than two weeks away.
The Jackson Bulls will start their home stretch of the regular season today in Hadley with a 5 p.m. game vs. the Buttermakers.
Jackson has won four in a row and eight of its last 10 and is in second place in the First Nite League with a 10-4 record, one game behind first-place Fairmont and a half-game ahead of third-place Windom.
Hadley has won three straight and five of six to sit in third place in the Gopher League with an 8-4 record.
“They’re great guys,” Bahr said of the Buttermakers, who are led by their Minnesota Amateur Baseball Association Hall of Fame Manager Myron Hoffman.
“Myron and I have been around since the beginning of amateur baseball,” Bahr joked. “We always talk about that we don’t know how many managers have come and gone since we’ve been doing it. We’re both in our 30’s for years of doing this stuff.
Through the years the Bulls have generally good memories of their trips to Hadley, although the Buttermakers have ended the last two seasons for Jackson. Each has been a walk-off win in Game Three of a region playoff series.
“It’s a feisty place to play and it’s an interesting place to play and that’s what they’re proud of,” Bahr said. “They’ve ended our season two years in a row and that’s been realty tough. There’s a good chance that we could play them in the playoffs and this game could be the deciding factor in where Game Three is. We’re going to have to go up and play really, really well.”
Jackson will have Ryan Rasche climb the mound at Laurie Mahon Field. The Bulls won’t know who Hadley will have pitch. The Buttermakers are playing Ruthton at 2 p.m. before playing Jackson at 5 p.m.
“They have a lot of good pitchers, but they have an absolute stud that I’m guessing we’re going to see in a left hander, Tucker Sorenson, who signed with when after Adrian folded,” Bahr commented. “We feel really good with Ryan. He’s won a lot of big games for us. I’m hoping that he can keep us in the game and we can find a way to put the ball in play hard and run around and score some runs.
After the game at Hadley, Jackson is off until next Sunday when it has two games scheduled, playing at Windom at 2 p.m. and hosting Worthington at 5 p.m.
Lakefield hosts Windom Wednesday and then plays at Heron Lake next Sunday.
Standings
First Nite League
Fairmont Martins 11-3
Jackson Bulls 10-4
Windom Pirates 9-4
Lakefield Frogs 6-7
Fox Lake Foxes 5-9
Heron Lake Lakers 3-11
Mountain Lake Lakers 2-8
Gopher League
Luverne Redbirds 11-1
Milroy Irish 9-3
Hadley Buttermakers 8-4
Worthington Cubs 3-9
Pipestone A's 2-9
Ruthton Royals 2-9
Friday, June 30
Heron Lake 2, Fox Lake 0
Fairmont 6, Luverne 1
Hadley 4, Pipestone 3
Sunday, July 2
Ruthton at Hadley, 2 p.m.
Jackson at Hadley, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, July 5
Windom at Lakefield, 7:30 p.m.
Fox Lake at Milroy Irish, 7:30 p.m.
Worthington at Luverne, 7:30 p.m.
Ruthton at Pipestone, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 6
Pipestone at Worthington, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 7
Mountain Lake at Worthington, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 8
Milroy Irish at Heron Lake, 2 p.m.
Marshall at Hadley, 2 p.m.
Sunday, July 9
Fox Lake at Luverne, 12 p.m.
Jackson at Windom, 2 p.m.
Lakefield at Heron Lake, 2 p.m.
Fairmont at Mountain Lake, 2 p.m.
Ruthton at Milroy Irish, 2 p.m.
Milroy Irish at Hadley, 2 p.m.
Worthington at Jackson, 5 p.m.
Ruthton at Windom, 5 p.m.
Becker returns to Lexington
Fairmont graduate Luke Becker returned to Lexington, Kentucky this weekend as a member of the Atlantic League’s Spire City Ghost Hounds.
Becker played college baseball at the University of Kentucky and played last season in Lexington in the independent Atlantic League with the Wild Health Genomes.
Becker hit his fourth home run of the season Friday, although the host Counter Clocks won 8-6.
Becker also had a hit Saturday in a 5-4 Lexington win.
All-Star
Fairmont graduate Eli Anderson has been named to the play in the Dairyland Collegiate League All-Star Game Thursday in Waterloo.
Anderson, who played his freshman year at NIACC, is an outfielder with the Maunesha River Rats, who are hosting the game at Waterloo Firemen’s Park.
Anderson is second on the team in batting average with a .389 mark. He has a team-leading 21 hits in 54 at bats.
He has four doubles and is first on the team in triples with two.
Maunesha River js second in the league standings with a 9-5 record.