Baseball: Hinks, Merle lead Tigers past South

Spencer Merle 3-4 (photo by Jim Lindquist)

J.D. Hinks picked up his second win and Spencer Merle rapped a triple and a pair of singles to pace the Tigers to a 9-5 non-conference win over Lakeville South Monday afternoon at Tiger Field.

Hinks allowed two runs in five innings of mound duty, scattering eight hits while striking out two an walking two. Farmington  is a perfect 3-0 in the Hinks' three starts.

The Tigers scored six runs in their first two at-bats and led from the first inning forward.

John Stibal's two-run single in the first keyed a four-run inning that also featured run-scoring walks to Drew Hegseth and Nick Newman.

The Tigers went up 6-2 in the second on a triple by Merle, a double by Ty Vincent, Hegseth's fielder's choice ground ball and a throwing error.

Hegseth's RBI single plated the seventh run in the fourth and Jordan Lugowksi put some icing on the victory cake with a two-run double in the fifth.

J.D. Hinks second win

Hegseth followed Hinks to the mound in the sixth and pitched an inning and two-thirds of relief. Andy Morris came into get the final out and snuff out a three-run rally by South in the seventh

"We did a good job of capitalizing on their pitcher's mistakes," Tiger coach Mike Winters said, "and we made aggressive and smart decisions on the base paths to put pressure on their defense....Situational hitting was also a key factor."

The win in the regular season finale gives the Tigers an overall mark of 7-12 and a little bit of momentum heading into this weekend's opening round of the Section 1AAA post-season tournament.