The Buckman Billygoats edged the Nisswa Lightning 4-3 in 11 innings on Friday night in Nisswa to lock up the regular season Championship in the B Division of the Victory League and the #1 seed in the upcoming District 4B Tournament. Buckman ends the regular season with a record of 12-2. Nisswa will be the #2 seed after their 11-3 finish to the end of the regular season.
Matt Tautges came out of the bullpen and hurled 7 shutout innings of relief with 9 strikeouts to earn the Win for Buckman. Jack Suska’s rbi single in the top of the 11th drove in Noah Boser with the deciding run, as Nisswa threatened in the bottom of the 11th, loading the bases with 1 out but Matt Tautges finished the game with back-to-back strikeouts to finish off the game.
Buckman grabbed an early lead when Matt Kummet belted his 7th Homer of the season to lead off the top of the 2nd off Nisswa starter Isaiah Biehn to make it 1-0.
Nisswa responed against Buckman starter Rylan Robinson in the bottom of the 2nd, getting a single from Sam Peterson, Chris Pederson got hit by a pitch and a sacrifice bunt from Brett Jenkins to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Robinson then hit Nic Kotaska with pitch to load the bases. Matt Casperson then walked with the bases loaded to force in Sam Peterson and tie the game at 1-1. Kody Ruedisili then hit a ground ball that was misplayed for an error as Chris Pederson scored to give Nisswa a 2-1 as the Lightning left the bases loaded to end the 2nd inning.
Nisswa went up 3-1 in the bottom of the 4th on a sacrifice fly from Jeremiah Piepkorn, scoring Nic Kotaska, to put the Lightning up by 2 after 4 innings.
In the top of the 5th, Matt Tautges led off with a walk and stole 2nd. Ben Thoma came through with a 2-out rbi single to score Tautges and make it 3-2.
Buckman nearly tied it in the top of the 7th when Lane Girtz reached 2nd on an error with 1 out, then stayed put on a groundout by Noah Boser for the 2nd out. Ben Thoma then laced a line drive to the left-center gap, but a nice catch by Nic Kotaska ended the inning as Girtz was left stranded on 2nd.
In the top of the 8th, Buckman tied things up when Braxton Tautges singled to right with 2 outs to score Peter Herman, who had reached on an error and the Goats had tied things up at 3-3.
In the bottom of the 8th, Nic Kotaska led off with a double for Nisswa, but Matt Tautges and shortstop Lane Girtz combined to pick him off at 2nd, followed by a fly out to right fielder Travis Kahl and a comebacker to the mound.
In the top of the 9th, Lane Girtz led off by getting hit by a pitch from reliever Colbe Tappe. After Jack Suska popped up to 2nd, Ben Thoma hit a slicing line drive to right, and with Lane Girtz running on the play, a diving catch by rightfielder Brett Jenkins resulted in an easy inning-ending double play for Nisswa.
Nisswa got a 1-out single from Nate DeChaine in the bottom of the 9th but that was it as the game headed to extra innings still tied at 3-3.
Buckman loaded the bases in the top of the 10th on a Jack Suska walk, an infield hit by Peter Herman and an error, but Colbe Tappe got a strikeout and an unassisted groundout to 1st baseman Nate DeChaine to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 10th, Matt Tautges had a 1-2-3 inning with a fly out to centerfielder Noah Boser, a strikeout and a groundout to shortstop Lane Girtz.
In the top of the 11th with Kody Ruedisili now on to pitch for Nisswa, Lane Girtz flew out to right, but then Noah Boser lined a double to the gap in right, and went to 3rd on an error on the throw back to the infield. Back-to-back walks to Ben Thoma and Matt Kummet loaded the bases, bringing up Jack Suska, who crakced a clean rbi single to right field to drive in Noah Boser to put Buckman ahead 4-3. Ruedisili got out of the inning with a strikeout and a pop out to shortstop Jeremiah Piepkorn as Buckman took a 4-3 lead to the bottom of the 11th.
Matt Casperson led off with a single, followed by a walk to Kody Ruedisili. Matt Tautges then struck out Jeremiah Piepkorn for the 1st out. Nate DeChaine then hit a towering fly ball to right that was dropped for an error and now Nisswa had the bases loaded with 1 out. Matt Tautges got the 2nd out on a strikeout of Colbe Tappe, then finished the game with another strikeout of Sam Peterson to end the game with the Billygoats 4-3 win in 11 innings.
Buckman 4 11 2 – 4 11 innings
Nisswa 3 8 4 – 3
WP: Matt Tautges 7.0 IP 0 runs 6 hits 9k 2bb
Rylan Robinson 4.0 IP 3 runs 2 hits 2k 2bb 5hp
LP: Kody Ruedisili 1.0 IP 1 run 2 hits 1k 2bb
Isaiah Biehn 5.0 IP 2 runs 7 hits 6k 2bb
Colbe Tappe 5.0 IP 1 run 2 hits 3k 2bb 1hp
Billygoats:
Matt Tautges 0-5 bb, sb, run
Lane Girtz 1-5 2B, hp
Noah Boser 2-6 2B, run
Ben Thoma 1-5 bb, rbi
Matt Kummet 1-3 Hr, 3bb, rbi, run
– Kyle Winscher 0-0
Jack Suska 1-5 bb, rbi
Peter Herman 3-6 run
Travis Kahl 0-6
Braxton Tautges 2-5 rbi
– Rylan Robinson
– Andy Winscher 0-0
Lightning:
Kody Ruedisili 1-4 2bb, rbi
Jeremiah Piepkorn 0-5 sac fly, rbi
Nate DeChaine 2-5 hp, sb
-Keaton Lingenfelter 0-0
Colbe Tappe 0-4 bb, hp
Sam Peterson 1-6 run
Chris Pederson 0-4 hp, run
Brett Jenkins 0-4 sac
– Isaiah Biehn
Nic Kotaska 1-3 2B, 2 hp, sb, run
Matt Casperson 3-4 bb, rbi
