The Pirates ended up taking 3rd place in the 25th annual Plum City Memorial Day Tournament.
Game Results:
W 5-4 vs. Hudson
L 5-1 vs. Elmwood
W 6-0 vs. Plum City
The Pirates played Hudson down in the annual Plum City Tournament yesterday and came out on top beating them 5-4. Our second game will be against the Elmwood Expos later today at 5:30.
The Pirates held on to beat the Elmwood Expos 8-7 in the first game of the 2016 season. Adam Barta threw 4 innings giving up just 1 run. He was then relieved by Jesse Tollefsen and Evan Bayer. Offense was led by Mike Brookshaw, Mike Lytle, and Alex Ross. Pirates are back in action next weekend with two more conference home games, Bay City on Saturday and Spring Valley on Sunday. Both games will start at 1pm.
For the seventh time in nine years the Pirates have advance to playing the WBA state finals. The game will be played in Haugen, WI at 1:30 on Saturday against Osceola. The winner will play Saturday night at 7:30.
In the first game of regionals, the Pirates played Tomahawk and made quick work of the four seed by scoring 18 runs in 6 innings to ten run them 18-1. The offense was on point the entire game and didn’t let off the throttle. Jim French led the way with a HR and 2B but numerous players had significant contributions to the route. Adam Barta threw five innings giving up a single run in a winning effort.
Sunday the Brill Millers were the opponent and have been a thorn in the Pirates side for many years. Both teams had to wait two hours before the game could start because of a monsoon that let loose on the field which made playing conditions dicey at best. Eric Monson got the nod on the hill and didn’t disappoint as he threw a CG on 103 pitches giving up 6 hits, 1 run and two strike outs. The story of the game was the infield defense that includes Monson. With the playing surface completely water logged, the infield didn’t make an error and was helped out by a few fantastic scoops by Nick Johnson at first base.
The offense Sunday wasn’t as efficient as Saturday but had scoring opportunities almost every inning. Billy Brookshaw walked and scored twice, Alex Ross had a couple more hits include a double and Mike Brookshaw had a two-run single in the 8th to break the game open to give the Pirates a 6-0 lead.
Here is a nice article by Sean Scallon with some good photos and videos from Sunday’s championship game.
http://www.piercecountyherald.com/content/your-hometown-champions-prescott-wins-wba-tourney-title
The Prescott Pirates advanced to the WBA state tournament Sunday for the third straight year and sixth time in eight years. They will play River Falls Friday night at 7:30 in River Falls, which should be a mad house. Here is how the weekend in review.
Saturday Prescott beat Merrill 2-1 on terrific pitching performance by Eric Monson and great defense that spun three double plays. In the 5th, Travis Nuebek plated Mike Lytle on a double to left field to put us up 1-0. Nick Johnson singled home Billy Brookshaw to make it 2-0 in the 6th. Unfortunately the Pirates left a dozen or so runners on base to make the game tighter than it should have been.
Sunday Prescott played Onalaska for the right to advance to State. Alex Ross got the offense rolling early with a lead off double and scored on Johson’s single to Center. Ross then singled to center with two outs to put the Pirates 2-0. Then, Ross “scored” on Johnson’s double to deep right field. What took place was nothing short of comedic. Ross rounded third, stumbled, flipped, deeked the catcher and literally walked around him to make the score 3-0. It was a crowd pleaser for sure. What wasn’t a crowd pleaser was an awful call on a tag play at home that went the way of Onalaska. With runners on second and third, Onalaska hit a single to left center where Johnson threw home to Nuebek. Nuebek applied the tag, spun to throw to second and dropped the ball on the transfer. Fortunately for Prescott, Adam Barta was able to wiggle out of the inning keeping the score at 3-2. In the 8th, the Pirates had the bases loaded when Nuebek hit a triple to deep right to make the score 6-2 and put the final dagger in what was a very close game. Barta pitched a great game keeping their hitters off balance the entire nine. Our defense was again superb. Lytle stole the show with nine put outs in right field and two big time run saving catches on well struck balls the right center gap. Ryan Burmeister also had a terrific play at short and Nuebek picked a guy off 1st base.
See you in River Falls Friday!
The Pirates found out Tuesday they will face the Merrill Rangers in the first round of the WBA playoffs. The game will be in River Falls on Saturday, August 9th starting at 4PM. If the Pirates advance, they will face the winner of Osseo and Onalaska Sunday at 3 PM at the same location.
The Pirates were on the road twice this weekend as they played Ellsworth and Bay City to finish off the 2014 SCVBL regular season. On Friday versus the Hubbers, the Pirates bats were cold early as the Spaniard kept us off-balance. In the 3rd inning, Scott Dwyer put the Hubbers up 2-0 on a home run to left center. The Pirates tied the game up in the 5th on Derek Munsen’s 2 run double, but the Hubbers jumped back in the lead in the bottom of the inning on another home run. In the 7th with and runners on first and second, Britton Wolf relieved the Spaniard to face off versus Nick Johnson. Johnson promptly delivered a single to center scoring Alex Ross to tie the game at 3. The Pirates took the lead in the 8th inning when Jake Hintz scored the eventual winning run on another double by Munsen.
Adam Barta started and finished the game for the Pirates as he pitched his second consecutive complete game, giving up three earned runs while striking out 6. He kept a good hitting lineup at bay got better as the game went on.
Sunday the Pirates were in Bay City to clinch the SCVBL championship. Eric Monson was on the mound for Prescott and he dominated the Bombers. There were a few struggles early with command but he was able to induce three double plays and only one base runner reached third base. He, like Bart, got better as the game went on and also threw a complete game, but this variety was a shut out.
The bats are in dire need of a PED or maybe an energy drink. Facing back to back thumbers really hasn’t helped. Brookshaw hit a double to left field that scored two runs to put us up 2-0. Two bombers errors allowed two more runs to score and that is all I have to say about our offense as it has been pretty offensive to watch lately.
Prescott finds out Tuesday where and when playoffs will be.
On Sunday, the Pirates traveled to Menomonie to take on an undefeated Eagle squad. Mark Moriarty started for the Pirates and pitched five innings, giving up one run on a handful of hits but unfortunately he had to leave to coach a game in La Crosse. Eric Monson came in for Moriarty and that is where the game went from intense to crazy.
In the top of the 8th inning, Ryan Burmeister walked to lead off the inning. Alex Ross then bunted down the 1st base side where the Eagle pitcher bobbled the ball and threw wild allowing Burmeister to scamper to third. Billy Brookshaw tied the game up with a sacrafice fly to right field.
In the top of the 10th, Nick Johnson singled to center with two outs. Jim French walked and Mike Brookshaw singled home Johnson on a really close play at home to give the Pirates their first lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Menomonie had runners on first and second with two outs and an Eagle batter hits a ball down the third base line that hits the base, pops up over Billy Brookshaw landing in left field and allow the tying run to score.
In the bottom of the 11th, after a single and double, Menomonie had runners on second and third with nobody out. Monson was able to strike out the next hitter for the first out. The Pirates intentionally walked the next batter and played a five man infield. The next hitter drilled one at Burmeister at shortstop where he fired home for the force out. Monson was able to get the final out on a fly ball that ended another crazy inning.
In the top of the 13th, Brady Randolph singled up the middle and went to third base on Johnson’s single to right field. Jim French put the Pirates ahead with a single to RF that plated Randolph and again, the Pirates lead. Menomonie then tied the game in the bottom of the inning with the inning ending in a run down of Menomonie’s cat quick second baseman.
In the top of the 14th, Austin Tulip singled to left leading off the inning and Burmeister bunted him to second for the first out. Alex Ross then tripled to dead center that scored Tulip and Ross scored on a wild pitch to put the Pirates up 5-3. Of course, Menomonie would put two on in the bottom half of the inning but Johnson was able to induce a ground ball to third to end the debacle.
Fantastic game between two teams that should make some noise in the post season.
After Saturday’s loss to River Falls, the Pirates were ready to get back on the field to rebound from a tough game. Adam Barta started on the mound for Prescott and threw great in the 7-1 victory. Barta went all nine innings that included 8 strike outs and one run given up. He set the tone from the beginning of the game giving the Pirates exactly what they needed. The Pirates defense also played very well in turning three double plays and only committing one error.
Leading the Pirate offense was Alex Ross and Michael Brookshaw who had three hits each and combined five RBI. Billy Brookshaw also had two hits and two SB’s.
The Pirates travel to Hastings Friday night to play in the annual River Rumble starting at 8 PM with Jesse Tollefson getting the start.
Prescott Pirates Baseball 