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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Belle Plaine	13
New Prague	0

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Enjoy the 4th!

Tigers Put Strangle Hold on 1st Place

The Local 9 had a big week this week, as they played 3 River Valley League contests, all at the friendly confines of Tiger Park. Tuesday night they downed Fairfax 7-1, behind a strong performance by Brad Lawson. Friday night El Tigre put on their hitting shoes and won 12-6 over Winthrop. Sunday the rivals from Le Sueur came to town and the Tigers won this battle 8-0. With the 3 league wins, the Tigers moved to 16-6 overall and 7-4 in the River Valley League.

On the schedule this week is tonight’s contest at New Prague, 7:30pm. On Sunday, the Tigers travel down 169 to face Le Sueur again, this time in Le Sueur. With the holiday weekend, we have a special start time of 6:00pm. Come on down to Le Sueur to catch the action. Next Tuesday, Henderson makes it’s way to town for a 7:30pm tilt on Little League night at Tiger Park. Come on out and support your Tigers.

As always, check out www.bptigertown.com for up-to-date scores and highlights. We just can’t pump up the website enough.

Fairfax 1 @ Belle Plaine 7 (Tuesday, June 23rd)
A couple youngsters faced up in this pitching matchup, as Fairfax’s 19 year old ace Bryce Rippentrop faced Belle Plaine’s own 19 year old, Brad Lawson. Lawson would get the best of this matchup, as he pitched a complete game 2-hitter. Lawson walked two and fanned 7, in his 126-pitch effort.

The Tigers started off the scoring in the 3rd, as Rippentrop faced some control issues, walking the 1st three men of the inning. After a strikeout, Shawn Carlson delivered the big blow, a 2-run single to left field. Fairfax answered back with their only run on the night in the 4th, as a long double to left from Adam Buboltz scored Rippentrop, who had walked to start the inning. Lawson got a fielder’s choice and flyout to end the threat.

BP answered back in the bottom of the 4th with the help of 3 base hits off the bats of Mike Milam, Scott Johnson and Adam Johnson. That put an end to the night for Rippentrop.

In the 8th, the Tigers got a leadoff double from Carlson and another big base hit from Scott Johnson, as they scored 3 runs to put the game out of reach. Leading the Tigers at the plate on the evening was Shawn Carlson, who went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI’s. Scott Johnson also had a big night, going 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s. Lawson improved to 5-0 on the hill, with a sparkling 2.17 ERA.

Winthrop 6 @ Belle Plaine 12 (Friday, June 26th)
Shane Hofmann got the call from Manager Miller on Friday night, only about the 75th time he has thrown against Winthrop over the years. The veteran right-hander got off to a slow start, as 4 ground ball singles in the first inning led to 2 Winthrop runs.

The theme of the night was the Tiger bats, as they responded in the bottom of the 1st with 3 runs of their own. Adam Johnson got on the dish on an error by the 3rd basemen. With 2 outs, the Tigers got 4 consecutive singles from Miller, Milam, Dan Huber and Lawson to plate 3 runs. As Dog would say, “win every inning!” Hofmann would settle down after the rough beginning and put up 4 straight zeros on the board for the visitors.

In the meantime, the roaring Tigers were scoring in every inning except the 3rd. In the 2nd inning, a double by Carlson plated 2 runs. In the 4th, a leadoff double by Adam Johnson led to a run on a 2-out RBI single by Miller. 2 more runs were pushed across in the 5th, highlighted by consecutive singles from Huber, Lawson and Eric Lyons.

Winthrop would come storming back in the 6th, as Ben Melius hit a 2-out bases-clearing double to get Winthrop within 8-5. Hofmann would get a ground ball to end the inning and his night was complete after 6. The Tigers answered back quickly in the bottom of the 6th on a solo homerun by Dan Huber put them up 9-5. A single run in the 7th and a 2 spot in the 8th finished the scoring on the night for Belle Plaine. Hofmann improved to 3-0 on the year, with a 3.85 ERA. Shawn Carlson provided solid relief, as he gave up 1 run over the final 3 frames to pick up the save.  

The Tigers pounded out 14 hits on the night, with a number of players having multi-hit games. Jeff Miller continued to swing a hot bat, as he went 2-4 on the night with an RBI. Mike Milam also collected 2 hits, along with Eric Lyons, who had a big 2 RBI double in the 8th. Dan Huber was the star though, as he went 3-5 with a HR and 2 RBI.

Le Sueur 0 @ Belle Plaine 8 (Sunday, June 28th)
The story of this ballgame was the pitching of Adam Johnson. The rookie lefthander picked up his 4th win of the year in impressive fashion, as he sent down 11 Braves via the strikeout. Only a strict pitch count by Manager Miller would stop AJ from pitching the complete game, as Mike Schultz threw a scorless 9th inning to secure the shutout.

The scoring started for the Tigers in the 3rd, as Nick Volek basically manufactured a run all by himself. After walking with 1 out, Volek stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder’s choice. 0 hits and 1 run for the Tigers.

Belle Plaine would put up 3 runs in the 4th, with Pat Schultz doing most of the damage with a 2 RBI triple to center. It’s also worth noting, Jeff Miller stole his first base in 5 years in this inning. “Hot Wheels Miller” we call him.

The local 9 would put the game out of reach in the 7th, as they put up 4 runs. Jeff Miller showed off his power with a MASSIVE blast to left-center, a 3-run bomb.

Recap
After recently losing 3 league games by a total of 3 runs, the Tigers got back on their winning ways this past week. The 3 league wins pushed their league record to 7-4, 16-6 overall. With Waconia losing Friday night to Shakopee, El Tigre has a 2 game lead in the division with 5 to play.

Through 22 games, the Tigers have a number of regulars hitting over .300. Jeff Miller is leading the way at .426, followed by Shawn Carlson at .388, Brad Lawson .338, Pat Schultz .337, Matt Schultz .328, Shawn Larson .325, Mike Milam .324 and Dan Huber at .299. As a team, the locals are hitting .297 on the season.

Most of the mound duties have been shared by Lawson, Johnson and Hofmann. The 3 have combined for 12 wins, 3 saves and a sparkling 2.59 ERA. See you at Tiger Park!

Box Scores to be added later this week.

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