Beetles pushed to brink of playoff elimination

August 10, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


Alexandria, MN - The Alexandria Beetles were pushed to the brink of playoff elimination with an 11-3 defeat at the hands of the Rochester Honkers on Thursday night at Knute Nelson.

In the penultimate home game of the year, the Beetles (31-36, 18-14) took an early 2-0 lead only to watch the Honkers (27-40, 12-20) score 11 of the game's final 12 runs including seven in the final three innings to turn a tight battle into a blowout late.

Combined with a win by the Willmar Stingers, the Beetles fell two games out of first place with three to play. Because the Stingers hold the tie-breaker with Alexandria, the Beetles need to win their final three ballgames and hope for three Willmar losses for their playoff dreams to be realized.

Another quick Alexandria start propelled the Beetles to a 2-0 first-inning lead. Tanner Vavra was hit between the shoulder blades with one out to bring op red hot Ben Moore, who, after an apparent double over the third base bag was ruled foul, drilled his 16th home run of the season to left field for his 82nd and 83rd RBIs to put the Beetles out in front.

But the Honkers answered right back with three runs on three hits in the second, including a two-run single from nine hitter Jordan Parr, to take the lead. Jordan's twin brother Justin hit a solo home run, his fifth homer in six ballgames, to extend the lead in the top of the third to 4-2.

Alexandria plated a single run in the third inning after Matt Lowenstein doubled in scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to one, but that was the final time that the Beetles scored against starter Mason Pingel who dominated in the second half of his start. After the Beetles loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, Pingel induced a 1-2-3 double play grounder to end the threat and the Beetles managed just one hit for the rest of the night.

Pingel pitched through eight and struck out two in each of his final four innings, finishing the night with nine strikeouts. He retired 12 of the final 13 men he faced with Rob Case reaching on an error in the eighth the only base-runner after Lowenstein's leadoff single in the fifth.

Rochester took control late with three runs in the seventh, on two hits, two walks and a throwing error from Beetle starter Ali Simpson and one in the seventh as a Jared Allen grounder scored Chad Wallach after he was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a Reid Roper double.

The Honkers capped the scoring with three more runs in the ninth on three hits with the big blow a two-run double from Justin Parr who finished with four RBIs while extending his hitting streak to 21 games.

Alexandria and Rochester play a rubber game in their three-game series on Friday at Knute Nelson in the final Beetle home game of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 CDT.



Northwoods League Stories from August 10, 2012


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