07 May 2014

Baseball: Payback at Northfield

Landon Neilsen 3-4, 3B, 2 R
Farmington (7-4) paid back Northfield for a loss at Tiger Field earlier in the season with a 9-3 victory over the Raiders Tuesday in Northfield.

The Tigers were a model of efficiency in their third win in seven Missota Conference games, using their eight hits, three walks and three costly Raider errors to produce nine runs.

Austin Martinsen and Landon Neilsen paced the offense. Neilsen smacked a triple and two singles and scored twice while Martinsen had a double and a single, knocked in two runs and scored three times. Martinsen, Jordan DeCroock and Robert Kramer each drove in two runs.

"The kids are really playing some confident baseball right now," coach Jon Graff said. "We've had to mix up our line-ups lately and they're just stepping in and playing like they've been there all year...  We're continuing to execute our bunts and hit and runs and doing a great job of moving runners around on the bases."

The winners scored a pair of runs in the first inning on a single by Parker Holmstrom, a double by Martinsen and an infield error.

The Tigers put the game on ice in the third with four more scores on two hits, three walks and another costly Northfield error.

Singles by Neilsen and Jordan DeCroock, a sacrifice fly by Johnny Dittman and a hit by Robert Kramer added two more in the fifth and yet another Northfield fielding miscue led to the final score in the sixth.

Parker Holmstrom picked up the pitching win, going six innings and allowing three runs on three hits. Martinsen hurled a scoreless seventh inning.

The Tigers also played solid defense with Jordan Beschorner drawing special words of praise from his coach.

"Jordan played lights out," Graff said.  "He made a couple of spectacular plays that really stymied Northfield's chances."

The Tigers are back in action Thursday with a Missota Conference doubleheader with Chanhassen at Tiger Field. The first pitch of the opener is scheduled for 3:30.