Union Hill Clinches Top Four Seed in Defeat of Faribault

The Union Hill Bulldogs had three pitchers combine to blank the Faribault Lakers 4-0 Wednesday night and clinched a top four seed and first round bye in the upcoming playoffs.  Nathan Berg threw the first 7 innings, Daniel Feneis tossed an inning and Conrad Masberg finished 2/3 of an inning for the Bulldog victory.

Union Hill had 8 hits and Faribault 7 hits in the game and each team had 2 errors in the contest played at Union Hill.  Lakers ace Matt Lane returned from injury to go the distance allowing 2 earned runs.  He struck out 9 and walked 3 batters throwing 127 pitches, 86 for strikes.

Eric Bisek was the hitting hero for the Bulldogs with a home run, double, single and 2 RBI.  Designated hitter Dusty Steinhoff had a pair of hits and a RBI.

In Berg's 7 innings he scattered 4 Faribault singles striking out 9 and walking 6.  He threw 131 pitches, 75 strikes.  Feneis gave up a single in his inning of work striking out 3 and walking 1 and Masberg allowed two singles while finishing the game.

Union Hill took the lead in the third inning with two runs and added insurance in the seventh and eighth innings.

Faribault couldn't get the timely hit with plenty of runners on the bases.  7 walks and 7 hits led to no runs for the Lakers.  They were led at the plate by Dylan Valentyn with two hits.  The other 5 singles were collected by Derek Ritter who hit lead-off, Mitch Johnson, Joe Grote, Matt Lane and Porter Sartor.

In other D-R-S League action Montgomery kept their top four seed playoff hopes alive with a 4-2 win over #2 seed St. Patrick 4-2.  Prior Lake downed Webster 9-3 and the Shakopee Coyotes defeated Lonsdale 5-4.

Union Hill joins New Market and St. Patrick among the top four seeds. New Prague, Montgomery and Faribault have shots at the final spot.

The Lakers have to win Thursday in their final game of the regular season at Bell Field against Veseli at 7:30 p.m. and need some help to be a top four seed.

Montgomery ends their season Saturday when they travel to St. Benedict for a 2:00 p.m. game and a win eliminates Faribault's hopes.

New Prague can clinch if they win their last three games against Lonsdale Thursday, Webster Saturday and St. Benedict Sunday.  The Orioles are on the road for all three contests.