Ryan Rasche pulled even with Tom Hady on Jackson's career win list as the Bulls head into the final week of their regular-season schedule with an 8-3 win over Lakefield Sunday at Stan King Field in Lakefield.
Rasche went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking two, hitting one batter and striking out three.
It's his fifth win of the season and the 72nd of his career with Jackson, moving into a tie for first place with Hady.
"It was not my best stuff today," Rasche said. "I don't know if part of that was having two weeks off but it was enough to get the win. There was good defense behind me because they definitely put the ball in play a bunch. It's always exciting to get a win over Lakefield."
While it's nice to get the win and pull even for the top spot on the career wins list, it was also an important win for the Bulls, who have three regular-season games remaining.
"There's a couple of things,” commented Rasche. "It's always a rivalry with us and Lakefield and we're both fighting for the number two spot in the league standings so winning the head-to-head matchup definitely helps. You always want to be playing well and winning games heading into the playoffs and we were able to accomplish those things."
"It's definitely exciting," Ryan said about tying the record. "It's a testament to being able to play as many years as I have, being able to be on as many good teams as I have. Tying Tom Hady, He's definitely the legend around Jackson Bulls baseball."
Jackson manager Scott Bahr said Rasche he's always considered Rasche one of the better pitchers in team history and now the numbers are backing that up.
"Ryan is on a short list of some of the best that we've had for a long time and everybody has known that, but now it's cool that he's tied with Tom Hady and it also gives Tom Hady a lot of credit," Bahr said. "One of the things people have to realize is that Tom didn't start playing with the Bulls until he was 30. He pitched 11 years in Heron Lake and Lakefield before he came to Jackson in 2000. We're not sure how many wins he got in those years and he's still getting wins right now up in Shakopee."
Hady isn't with the Bulls anymore, but is still playing on two teams as he approaches 50 years of age as he plays with the Shakopee Indians as well as the over-35 Southwest Outlaws.
Bahr isn't thinking about Rasche playing as many years as Hady, but he wouldn't mind if he did.
"Ryan has been with us for a long time and I hope he's going to be around a lot more," Bahr said. "I'm really proud of him. He's just Ryan. He's athletic on the mound, changes speeds and competes hard. Every time he goes out there we feel like we have a chance to win. That's a great thing as a manager and it's a great thing as a player.
Bahr said Rasche has talked about 'being up there with the Toms, talking about Tom Hady and Tom Schuller, who is third on the career win list with 63.
Bahr pointed out that Schuller played in the early years of the Bulls on some teams that didn't win a lot of games and also went to the bulllpen late in his career.
Payton Handevidt had three hits for Jackson. Chris Gumto had two hits including a double.
Trevon Bargfrede had three hits for Lakefield including a double. Jared Bakalyar also had three hits.
The Bulls are scheduled to play Mountain Lake Wednesday at St. James, while the Frogs host Adrian the same night.
Jackson Bulls career pitching wins
72 Tom Hady
72 Ryan Rasche
63 Tom Schuller
31 Tony Rubis
28 Pat Boggess
27 Lincoln Wacker
Sunday amateur baseball scores
Jackson 8, Lakefield 3
Fox Lake 8, Worthington 4
Luverne 10, Fox Lake 0 (5 innings)
Luverne 11, Heron Lake 1 (6 innings)
Hadley 9, Heron Lake 0
Hadley 5, Milroy Irish 3
Windom 2, Mountain Lake 1
Windom 9, Worthington 1
Pipestone 13, Adrian 1
Ruthton 12, Tracy 2
Standings
First Nite League
Windom 16-2
Jackson 12-7
Lakefield 10-7
Fox Lake 10-10
Heron Lake 7-11
Worthington 5-13
Mountain Lake 4-12
Gopher League
Luverne 17-1
Milroy Irish 16-2
Hadley 13-4
Pipestone 10-7
Adrian 6-11
Ruthton 6-12
Tracy 3-15