Photo by Sam Thiel Minneota’s Danny Hennen connects for a base hit during their game against the Milroy Yankees on Saturday. The Mudhens defeated the Yankees 12-1 in seven innings.

MARSHALL – Amateur baseball kicked into high gear over the weekend, with multiple area teams either getting their seasons started or going into their second weekend of games.

Sunday

Hadley 15,

Ruthton 7

RUTHTON – The Hadley Buttermakers and Ruthton Royals got their seasons underway on Sunday afternoon, as the Buttermakers defeated the Royals 15-7.

Hadley jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning, using an RBI double from Nick Bruning, an error and an RBI single from Trent Carlson. The Buttermakers added three more runs in the third inning, as Eric Wieneke and Carlson connected on back-to-back base hits before another Royals error plated another run to make it 6-0.

After Hadley tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly and an error, the Buttermakers continued to find offense in the next inning. Hadley would load the bases before Max Zwart connected on a three-run double to push its lead to 11-0.

Ruthton would finally get on the board in the bottom of the frame, getting a pair of runs on an error and a sacrifice fly. The Royals then struck for four more runs in the sixth, highlighted by a two RBI triple by Mitch Biever to cut the deficit to 11-6.

Hadley would respond quickly, however, plating four runs of its own in the top half of the seventh. Bruning got things going with a two-run home run to left before an RBI single from Chris Halbur and a fielder’s choice would push it to 15-6.

The Royals would get a run back in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t draw any closer as Hadley took home the season-opening victory.

Hadley manager Myron Bennett said he was pleased with their ability to hit the ball well and get strong pitching in their first game of the season.

“We swung the bats really well for our first game; I know they’ve been hitting a lot in the cage, but this is probably the first time they’ve hit out on a field. I was pleased with our pitchers, that was the first time they were on the mound all year,” Bennett said. “Both pitchers did well, we wanted to get five or six innings out of Trent and then Brady Kremer came in and did well.”

Kellan Johnson led the way for the Buttermakers with five hits while Bruning added three hits and three RBI and Zwart had a pair of hits and four RBI.

Carlson earned the victory on the mound, going 5.1 innings while allowing four runs on four hits and striking out five.

Chris Dougherty led the way for the Royals with two hits while Biever and Wabeke each added a hit and combined for three RBI.

Dougherty took the loss in relief, going four innings while allowing nine runs on 11 hits and striking out four.

Ruthton manager Tylan Gylling said he thought they did a good job of finding their pitch at the plate, but knows they still have work to do, especially on pitching and defense.

“I thought we hit really well, we’ve got some work to do on pitching and defense but a lot of our guys hadn’t even thrown off the mound yet because of a long winter,” Gylling said. “But the biggest thing was we hit well.”

Hadley (1-0) will face Tracy next Sunday at 2 p.m. while Ruthton (0-1) will face Luverne next Sunday at 2 p.m.

Hadley 15, Ruthton 7

Hadley 303 230 400 – 15 19 1

Ruthton 000 024 100 – 7 10 6

HITTING: Hadley (Platt 1-7; Johnson 5-6; Bruning 3-5, HR, 3 RBI; Zwart 2-4, 3 RBI; Wieneke 3-3, RBI; Carlson 2-3, 2 RBI; Halbur 3-4, RBI); Ruthton (E. Wiering 1-4, RBI; Wabeke 1-3, RBI: Dougherty 2-2; Biever 1-4, 2 RBI).

PITCHING (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Hadley (Carlson 5.1-4-4-4-2-5; Kremer 4.2-3-3-6-1-2); Ruthton (B. Wiering 3-6-6-7-1-1; Dougherty 4-9-9-11-2-4; Baartman 2-2-2-2-2-3).

Milroy Irish 4,

Windom 3

(11 innings)

WINDOM – The Milroy Irish battled back from a three-run deficit to force extra innings before Dominic Dolan came through with the game-winning base hit to give the Irish a 4-3 victory in 11 innings over Windom on Sunday afternoon.

Dominic Dolan and Isaac Dolan led the way for the Irish with two hits and two RBI each while Derek Riley added a hit.

Moses Dolan earned the victory in relief for Milroy, tossing the final two innings. Tyler Peterson earned the start, going five innings while allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out three.

The Irish (2-0) will face Sacred Heart on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Milroy Irish 4, Windom 3 (11 innings)

Milroy Irish 000 000 021 01 – 4 6 3

Windom 300 000 000 00 – 3 9 1

HITTING: Milroy Irish (Dominic Dolan 2-6, 2 RBI; I. Dolan 2 H, 2 RBI; Riley 1 H).

PITCHING (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Milroy Irish (Peterson 5-3-3-8-1-3; I. Dolan 2-0-0-1-1-2; A. Dolan 2-0-0-0-0-0; M. Dolan 2-0-0-0-1-0).

Saturday

Minneota 12,

Milroy Yankees 1

(7 innings)

MILROY – The Minneota Mudhens continued their hot start to the season with a 12-1 victory over the Milroy Yankees in seven innings on Saturday.

The Mudhens got things going in the third inning, as Jake Leighton connected on an RBI single to give Minneota an early 1-0 lead. Minneota then added five runs in the next inning, as Danny Hennen and Jesse Drager connected on back-to-back RBI base hits to make it 3-0 before a fielder’s choice and a two-run single from Austin Buysse pushed the Mudhens lead to 6-0.

After Minneota got a run in the top of the fifth, the Mudhens had another big offensive frame in the sixth, plating five more runs. Minneota would load the bases with no outs before Hennen connected on a two-run single and Drager got another RBI single to make it 10-0. The Mudhens would later add two more runs on an error to bring it to 12-0.

The Yankees would get on the board in the bottom of the inning, as Brian Dolan and Andy Schmidt reached on infield singles before Matt Bauer brought in their only run to make it 12-1, but Milroy couldn’t get any closer.

Milroy Yankees manager Ryan Rohlik said they’re still getting back into the groove of playing the game again and credited Minneota for keeping them on their toes throughout the evening.

“We’re trying to get back into the groove and understand the game of baseball. We’ve played two good teams and you understand how important defense is and giving up extra outs can come back to haunt you and your pitcher throws more pitches,” Rohlik said. “We know that we’ll get better and get some our college guys back and such, but I will take nothing away from Minneota, Danny threw well and their hitters hit the ball very well, made contact and made sure we made plays and we just didn’t.”

Dolan and Schmidt led the way for the Yankees with a hit each while Bauer picked up the lone RBI.

Zack Felcyn took the loss on the mound, going four innings while allowing six runs on 11 hits and striking out two.

Hennen led the way for the Mudhens with a 2 for 3 day at the plate with three RBI while Beau Buysse, Austin Buysse and Drager all added two hits and two RBI each.

Minneota manager Tyson Sonnenburg said they were able to create some quality at-bats and that they have confidence in all of their batters to come up with a hit.

“The bats just exploded and it kind of becomes contagious. It kind of comes in streaks a lot; when we’re hot, we’re hot, and this was one of those nights where we connected on all ends and it was working,” Sonnenburg said. “Everyone 1 through 9 came through, it’s nice that we have just as much confidence in our 7-8-9 hitters as we do with our 1-2-3 hitters, so it’s pretty cool to see that.”

Hennen earned the victory on the hill, going all seven innings while allowing just one run on three hits while striking out four.

Minneota (3-0) will face Granite Falls on Friday at 7:30 p.m. while the Milroy Yankees (0-2) will face Cottonwood on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Minneota 12, Milroy Yankees 1 (7 innings)

Minneota 001 515 0 – 12 19 0

Milroy Yankees 000 001 0 – 1 3 3

HITTING: Minneota (B. Buysse 2-3, 2 RBI; Leighton 2-5, RBI; Sonnenburg 1-3, RBI; A. Buysse 2-5, 2 RBI; P. Nuy 1-4; Pohlen 2-5; Hennen 2-3, 3 RBI; Drager 2-5, 2 RBI; DeVlaeminck 3-4, RBI); Milroy Yankees (B. Dolan 1-2; Schmidt 1-3; Bauer RBI).

PITCHING (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Minneota (Hennen 7-1-1-3-1-4); Milroy Yankees (Felcyn 4-6-6-11-0-2; Kemp 2-6-6-8-1-1; N. Deutz 1-0-0-0-0-2).