By Jean Doran Matua, Editor
The Watkins Clippers played the Bird Island Bullfrogs Saturday, Sept. 5, in Springfield. Both teams made it into the Final 16 in the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Class C state tournament, but only one moved on to the next level.
The teams were equally matched, and it turned into a battle of the pitchers, Matt Geislinger and Braeden Tersteeg/Logan Nissen, with 184 and 171 pitches thrown, respectively. With all those pitches made, there were only a total of 18 hits in the whole game, 18 times a bat effectively made contact from among 355 total pitches. The score remained tied at 0-0 for the full nine innings, plus three extra innings. Jordan Sagedahl hit a triple in the top of the 13th inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Hebrink. The Clippers did not score in the bottom of the 13th, and the game ended 1-0 sending the Clippers home for the season.
All of the Clippers hits were singles: Lincoln Haugen, Kevin Kramer, Dan Berg, and Nolan Geislinger each hit a pair of singles.
For the Bulldogs, Jordan Sagedahl hit a triple, and Shawn Dollerschell hit a double; Colten Minkel hit a pair of singles.
Besides shutting out the Bulldogs for 12 innings, Matt Geislinger struck out 19 and walked none.
“With the abnormal season, the team had a lot of fun,” says team manager Matt Geislinger. “We have a great balance of veterans and young kids. The years to come look good for the Clippers. I’m excited to see what the next couple of years bring!”
BIRD ISLAND AB R H BI
TOTALS 48 1 8 1
WATKINS AB R H BI
Kevin Kramer 6 0 2 0
Lincoln Haugen 6 0 2 0
Matt Geislinger 4 0 0 0
Brendan Ashton 6 0 0 0
Xander Willner 0 0 0 0
Carter Block 6 0 0 0
Dan Berg 4 0 2 0
Heath Kramer 4 0 1 0
Carson Geislinger 5 0 1 0
Nolan Geislinger 5 0 2 0
Gavin Mathies 0 0 0 0
Dustin Kramer 0 0 0 0
Caden Nelman 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 46 0 10 0
Bullfrogs 000 000 000 000 1 1 8 1
Clippers 000 000 000 000 0 0 10 2