By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Frazee’s offense was hitting on all cylinders last week as the Hornets outscored their opponents by a 58-29 margin on their way to four more wins.

Last Monday night the Hornets defeated Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale by a score of 20-15, before they defeated Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 12-9. On Thursday Frazee swept a Heart O’ Lakes Conference doubleheader against Barnesville by scores of 12-2 and 14-3 to improve to 5-2 on the season.

This week the Hornets are scheduled to travel to Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal on Tuesday, Parkers Prairie on Thursday and will end the week with a doubleheader at home against Pelican Rapids on Friday. On Monday the Hornets will host New York Mills in a non-conference game at 3 p.m. 

Monday

Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale took an 8-0 lead after the top of the third inning, but the Frazee Hornets charged back in a big way last Monday night as they came away with a wild 20-15 game at home. The two teams combined for 24 hits and 12 errors, but the Hornets took advantage of a big 10-run bottom of the fourth inning and an eight-run bottom of the fifth inning to come away with the win.

After Frazee scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to cut the Raiders lead to 8-2, BHV scored three more runs of their own in the top of the fourth inning to take an 11-2 lead. That’s when the Hornets went on a wild one out rally to score 10 runs in the inning and take a 12-11 lead. Highlights of the inning included an RBI single by Adam Vigen, a two-run double by Karson Krause, bases loaded walks by Conner Erickson and Dawson Lyman, a bases loaded hit-by-pitch by Gavin Holt and a bases clearing three-run triple by Mason Mickelson.

Just one inning later the Hornets made the score 20-11 when they scored eight runs, which included an RBI double by Noah Mekalson, an RBI single by Blake Sonnenberg, a two-run single by Mickelson and a three-run home run by Krause to end the scoring. 

The Raiders added a pair of runs in both the sixth and seventh innings, but Mekalson shut the door on the comeback attempt to end the game by a score of 20-15. 

Vigen picked up the win on the mound as he went 3 2/3 innings in relief and gave up two hits, five runs of which three were earned, three walks and seven strikeouts. 

Mickelson led the charge offensively with three hits and four RBIs, while Sonnenberg went 3-5 with two RBIs and Krause went 2-5 with three runs scored, five RBIs, a double and home run. 

Frazee vs. BHV

AB R H     BI

Adam Vigen 5 3 2 1

Mason Mickelson 4 2 3 4

Karson Krause 5 3 2 5

Noah Mekalson 3 3 1 1

Blake Sonnenberg 5 2 3 2

Conner Erickson 2 2 0 1

Ben Reierson 3 1 0 0

Maison Olson 1 0 0 0

Gavin Holt 3 1 1 1

Dawson Lyman 2 3 0 1

HITTING- 2B- Blake Sonnenberg, Karson Krause, Mason Mickelson, Noah Mekalson; HR- Karson Krause

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Karson Krause 2.1-9-8-6-1-1, Adam Vigen 3.2-2-5-3-3-7, Noah Mekalson 1.0-1-2-0-1-2

Tuesday

Frazee and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley combined for 15 runs in the sixth and seventh innings as part of a thrilling 12-9 Hornet win on Tuesday night.

The Hornets trailed 4-2 heading into the top of the sixth inning when they loaded the bases to start the inning with back-to-back walks and a fielder’s choice. Adam Vigen hit a two-run double, before the Hornets took the lead on an error and Noah Mekalson followed with an RBI single to make the game 6-4 in favor of Frazee. After Blake Sonnenberg walked to load up the bases once again, Ben Reierson hit a bases clearing triple to put the Hornets up by a score of 9-4. 

The Wolves answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning, before Frazee put the game out of reach with a three-run double by Noah Mekalson to put Frazee in the lead 12-7. WHA was able to get a pair of runs across the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Frazee was still able to come away with the 12-9 win  to improve to 3-2 on the season.

The Hornets were led offensively by Mason Mickelson, Noah Mekalson, Conner Erickson and Dawson Lyman who each had two hits in the game.

Lyman picked up the win in relief as he went 2 2/3 innings on the mound and gave up four hits, three runs of which two were earned, walked three batters and struck out two.

AB R H     BI

Adam Vigen 4 1 1 2

Mason Mickelson 5 2 2 0

Karson Krause 4 2 1 1

Noah Mekalson 3 1 2 4

Blake Sonnenberg 1 2 0 0

Conner Erickson 5 0 2 0

Ben Reierson 2 1 1 4

Josiah Drewes 3 1 0 1

Dawson Lyman 3 2 2 0

HITTING- 2B- Adam Vigen, Karson Krause, Noah Mekalson

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Mason Mickelson 2.1-3-4-2-3-4, Dawson Lyman 2.2-4-3-2-3-2, Ben Reierson 2.0-3-2-1-1-2

Thursday

Frazee made a clean sweep of the week with a pair of wins over Barnesville by scores of 12-2 and 14-3 on Thursday night.

Noah Mekalson picked up the win on the mound as he went all six innings, giving up eight hits and no earned runs, while not walking a batter and striking out seven. 

In the first game of the night, the Hornets ended the game by the 10-run rule after scoring six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Already leading 6-2, the Hornets plated six runs thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Karson Krause, RBI singles by Josiah Drewes and John George and a bases clearing triple by Mason Mickelson to make the score 12-2. 

Mickelson led the way offensively with a double, triple and three RBIs. Krause went 2-3 with three runs scored, four RBIs and a solo home run. 

The Hornets completed the two-game sweep with a 14-2 win over the Trojans in the second game of the doubleheader. 

Frazee jumped out to the lead in the top of the first inning after Blake Sonnenberg singled to bring two runs across the plate and Conner Erickson hit an RBI double to make the score 3-0. The Hornets broke the game open in the top of the second inning with six runs on two hits thanks to a two-run double by Karson Krause, a bases loaded hit-by-pitch by Sonnenberg, a Ben Reierson sacrifice fly and a Josiah Drewes two-run single. 

Sonnenberg picked up the win for the Hornets as he allowed just four hits and three runs of which two were earned over 1 2/3 innings. 

Krause, Sonnenberg and John George led the way offensively with two hits apiece. 

AB R H     BI

Dawson Lyman 2 2 1 0

Mason Mickelson 3 1 2 3

Karson Krause 3 3 2 4

Noah Mekalson 3 1 1 1

Blake Sonnenberg 4 1 1 1

Conner Erickson 2 1 2 0

Josiah Drewes 3 1 1 1

John George 3 2 1 1

Gavin Holt 4 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Mason Mickelson; HR- Karson Krause

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Noah Mekalson 6.0-8-2-0-0-7

AB R H     BI

Adam Vigen 3 2 1 0

Mason Mickelson 3 2 1 0

Karson Krause 3 2 2 3

Noah Mekalson 3 2 0 0

Blake Sonnenberg 2 2 2 3

Conner Erickson 3 1 1 1

Ben Reierson 1 0 0 1

Josiah Drewes 2 0 1 2

John George 2 0 2 3

Dawson Lyman 2 1 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Conner Erickson, John George, Karson Krause

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Blake Sonnenberg 1.2-4-3-2-4-1, Dawson Lyman 3.1-1-0-0-1-1