Theodore Wiesehan

    The Utica/Beaver Crossing (UBC) Badgers American Legion seniors baseball team finished last week 1-4 with a disappointing 9-6 loss to Lincoln Amigos after leading for most of the game.
     "We actually played really well," UBC Coach Kevin Sullivan said. "It just fell apart in one inning."
     The Badgers led 6-2 going into the sixth inning before Amigos scored seven runs in one inning.
     "We had a couple strike outs on breaking balls in the dirt that got away from us," Sullivan said. "So we had some passed balls, and then they got their main hit they needed in the bottom of the sixth."
     Sam Blake threw nearly six innings, giving up seven runs for the loss. Jordan Sullivan was brought in to end the inning on a 2-0 count and gave up a hit that scored two before retiring the side.
     At the plate the Badgers out-hit Amigos 9-2, including multiple extra-base hits.
     "The bats are starting to pick up for us," Sullivan said. "That's what we've been waiting for. We crushed the ball."
     On June 3 through 6 the Badgers played three games in three nights, sandwiching a 5-2 win over Dwight between losses to Shelby/Osceola/Stromsburg (SOS) and Milford/Pleasant Dale (MPD) Post 354.
     Despite a 12-2 losing final score against SOS, UBC kept the score close through much of the game.
     "We were only down 4-2 going into the fifth or the sixth [inning] and the wheels came off again," Sullivan said.
     James Batt pitched for the loss.
     The opposite happened on June 4, when the Badgers took a three-run lead during a seventh inning rally to win 5-2.
     "We made that ground all up in the top of the seventh," Sullivan said. "We scored three runs in three hits in that inning."
     Blake pitched a complete game for the win.
     The Badger arms were tired by the third consecutive day of play and it showed as the team came out on the bottom of a 14-4 June 5 match-up with MPD.
     "That was a long game," Sullivan said. "I went through four pitchers."
     Sullivan said that the team is improving and the Badger bats have picked up in recent games.
     "Hits are kind of coming a little bit all the way through the line up," he said. "Everybody's starting to make contact now."
    Upcoming action
     The Badgers will host Lincoln Amigos in Utica on Wednesday, June 13. The juniors play at 6 p.m. and the seniors play at 8 p.m.