Hornets drop a pair to Yellowjackets in HOL

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

A six run bottom of the fourth inning was all the Frazee Hornets needed to defeat the Menahga Braves by a score of 11-5 on Friday night. The win came on the heels of a pair of tough losses at the hands of Perham the night beforehand.

This week the Hornets will host Pelican Rapids in a doubleheader on Thursday, before traveling to Parkers Prairie on Friday night in non-conference action. 

Thursday

A Cael Pausch single with two outs in the top of the sixth inning broke up a Perham no hitter during Frazee’s regular season opener against the Yellowjackets on Thursday. Unfortunately, a courtesy runner was subsequently picked off to end the scoring opportunity on Frazee’s way to a 9-0 loss in Perham.

The Yellowjackets took advantage of five Frazee errors that led to six unearned runs on Thursday night. Perham scored four runs in the first inning, two runs in the second inning, one run in the fourth inning and two more runs in the sixth inning to come away with the win. 

Drew Mekalson took the loss on the mound as he pitched 2/3 innings and gave up four hits and four runs, one of which was earned. Karson Krause came in the game in relief and pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up 8 hits and five runs, but just two of which were earned. 

In the nightcap, Perham scored four runs with two outs to take an early 4-0 lead, before Frazee stormed back with a two out rally of their own to cut the score to 4-3. 

Pausch led off the charge with a one out double, before Asher Blaine struck out swinging. Derek Zitzow then reached first base when the Perham catcher dropped a third strike to allow Pausch to reach third base. Pausch scored on the next batter when Mekalson reached on an error to make the game 4-1 in favor of Perham. Krause kept the momentum going for the Hornets when he followed with a two-run single to make the game 4-3. 

Unfortunately, Perham added three more runs in the top of the second inning on an RBI single, two run triple and a sacrifice fly to make the score 8-3. Perham added another run in the top of the fourth inning and five more runs in the top of the fifth inning to end the game by the 10-run rule by a final score of 14-3. 

Pausch led the way offensively for the Hornets as he picked up three of Frazee’s four hits in the game. Krause had a pair of RBIs in the loss. Pausch took the loss on the mound as he pitched three innings in relief and gave up four hits and seven earned runs. 

AB R H     BI

A. Vigen 2 0 0 0

C. Pausch 3 1 3 0

A. Blaine 3 0 0 0

D. Zitzow 2 0 0 0

D. Mekalson 2 1 0 0

C. Ullrich 1 0 0 0

K. Krause 1 0 1 2

L. Brekke 2 0 0 0

A. Aho 2 0 0 0

W. Olson 1 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- C. Pausch

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- D. Zitzow 1.0-4-4-3-1-0, C. Pausch 3.0-4-7-7-4-2, A. Vigen 1.0-5-3-3-1-0

AB R H     BI

A. Vigen 3 0 0 0

C. Pausch 3 0 1 0

A. Blaine 2 0 0 0

D. Zitzow 3 0 0 0

D. Mekalson 2 0 0 0

K. Krause 2 0 0 0

L. Brekke 2 0 0 0

A. Aho 2 0 0 0

C. Ullrich 1 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- C. Pausch

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- D. Mekalson 0.2-4-4-1-1-1, K. Krause 5.1-8-5-2-1-1

Friday

Frazee posted a big six run bottom of the fourth inning and scored at least one run in every inning except the bottom of the first inning on Friday night. 

Trailing 5-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, Drew Mekalson reached first base on a dropped third strike. Karson Krause made the Braves pay for the error as he followed with a two-run home run over the center field fence to make the score 5-4 in favor of Menahga. Later in the inning, Chandler Ullrich tied the game at 5-5 when he hit an RBI single to bring Logan Brekke in from second base. 

After Pausch and Asher Blaine both walked to load the bases with up two outs, Ullrich would score on a passed ball and Derek Zitzow came through with a two run single to make the score 8-5 in favor of Frazee. 

The Hornets added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Ullrich and a passed ball the make the score 10-5. 

The Hornets added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a Brekke RBI single to end the scoring at 11-5. 

Seven Hornets got a hit in the win with Adam Vigen, Ullrich and Krause each collecting a pair of hits to lead the way.

Zitzow picked up the win on the mound as he went 5 1/3 innings and gave up 12 hits, but just five runs. Mekalson pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for Frazee and gave up just one hit and struck out two batters.

AB R H     BI

A. Vigen 4 1 2 0

C. Pausch 2 1 0 0

A. Blaine 2 1 1 0

D. Zitzow 3 1 1 2

D. Mekalson 2 2 0 0

K. Krause 4 1 2 3

L. Brekke 3 1 1 1

A. Aho 3 1 1 0

W. Olson 1 0 0 0

C. Ullrich 3 2 2 2

HITTING- 2B- A. Aho

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- D. Zitzow 5.1-12-5-4-4-1, D. Mekalson 1.2-1-0-0-1-2