Baseball: Blossoms get past Athletics
Published 8:49 pm Sunday, April 19, 2015
Blooming Prairie’s Sam Swenson fouls off a pitch against Lyle-Pacelli in Marcusen Park Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
The Blooming Prairie baseball team got back to the basics to snap a three-game losing skid as it topped Lyle-Pacelli 11-5 in Marcusen Park Saturday.
The Awesome Blossoms (2-3 overall) didn’t exactly rip the cover off the ball, but they didn’t give the Athletics (2-1 overall) a lot of free passes and they didn’t make a of of mistakes. BP pitcher John Rumpza walked just one and struck out eight to get the mound win.
Lyle-Pacellli’s Braden Kocer makes contact against Blooming Prairie at Marcusen Park Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
“John is playing baseball right now just to have fun,” BP head coach Matt Kittelson said. “I think there was a lot of pressure on John when he was younger because he was going to be the next best thing. Now that he’s committed to Winona for football, he can focus on having fun.”
The bulk of BP’s offense came from Sam Swenson, who was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Riley Olson, who was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Connor Getchell, who was 2-for-2 with two RBIs. Rumpza said the whole squad has focused on having a good time at the baseball diamond this season.
“I think that’s the way everybody feels,” Rumpza said. “We look forward going to practice every day and it’s not really a struggle this year. We’re in every game that we’ve played this year.”
LP committed four costly errors in the loss and it didn’t score a run until the bottom of the fifth inning, when it was trailing 10-0. LP head coach Brock Meyer was hoping his team would have more of a sense of urgency in game that could have a big impact on section seedings.
“We just didn’t show up in the first four and a half innings,” Meyer said. “I told them we can’t just show up and walk through games. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is.”
John Rumpza (W) 7 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 5 R, 3 ER, 8 K, 1 HBP
BP hitting: Sam Swenson, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, 2 R; Riley Olson, 2-for-3, double, 2 RBIs, 2 R, BB; Rumpza, 0-for-4, 2 R; Scott Romeo, 0-for-4, R; Connor Getchell, 2-for-2, 2 RBIs, BB, HBP, 2 SB; Lucas Noble, 0-for-4, RBI, R; Camden Heimerman, 0-for-4, R; Brad Staska, 1-for-3, R, BB
LP pitching: Jordan Hart (L) 2 IP, 4 BB, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 K; Jordan Cotter, 5 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 9 R, 1 ER, 2 K
Blooming Prairie’s John Rumpza pitches in Marcusen Park Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
LP hitting: Daniel Bollingberg, 3-for-4, double, 2 RBIs, 2 R, SB; Bryce Strouf, 0-for-3, BB; Hart, 0-for-3, RBI, SB, HBP; Lee Bauer, 1-for-4; Cotter, 0-for-3; Braden Kocer, 0-for-3; Lucas Klabunde, 1-for-3, RBI, R, 2 SB; Brady Lester, 0-for-3; Taylor Arett, 1-for-3