Another series sweep; Illies homers in 7th (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team defeated visiting Maple Lake 13-4 tonight in the final game of the Central Minnesota Conference schedule. It was technically a makeup game of game two of the April 18 doubleheader. They nixed game two that day due to the cold. I'll never forget going back to the minivan after game one ended and seeing 41 degrees on the thermometer that night. Brrr!! Today the temperature shot well past 80 degrees.

The Jaguars (12-6) finished 9-5 in the CMC, which gave them fourth place alone. Two games remain on the regular season schedule.

Here's action from the top of the seventh inning tonight:


In the top of the seventh, Luke Illies hit a two-RBI home run over the 360-foot fenceline in right field. The Jaguars scored 3 runs in the seventh inning after scoring 5 runs in the top of the sixth to blow the game open.

Ethan Mueller pitched a gem of a game with six hits, one earned run, no walks and eight strikeouts in a complete-game effort. At the plate, the junior was walked four times and scored two runs. The Jaguars out-hit the Irish 10 to 6, and both teams had two errors. Luke Dingmann led the offense by going 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases.

Next: a home game next Tuesday against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (9-4) in a non-conference section game. The Thunder finished as sole champions of the Prairie Conference with a 5-1 record. Upsala/Swanville Area (12-6) finished in second place with a 4-2 record.

I am adding a few more notes to the most recent blog post, which highlights the fastpitch softball playoffs.

In college baseball news...
Congratulations to the St. Cloud Technical and Community College Cyclones baseball team, who has now won 11 straight games after claiming the NJCAA Region 13 championship with a 15-8 win over Century College earlier today. The lineup for the Cyclones includes B-B-E's Blaine Fischer and Will VanBeck.

I'll get more promotion of this in future blog post and newspaper issues, but I want to at least get the date thrown out there for an exciting event coming to Saints Field in Elrosa in June. On June 19, the Elrosa Saints baseball program will be hosting a youth baseball clinic. Mark your calendars!

Area baseball scores on May 18:
New London-Spicer 5, Glencoe-Silver Lake 0
NL-S 13, G-SL 1
Border West 14, Barnesville 4
Upsala/Swanville Area 4, Royalton 3
New York Mills 8, Wadena-Deer Creek 1
MACCRAY 4, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 2
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 12, Lac qui Parle Valley 2
Parkers Prairie 3, Menagha 2 (9 innings)
Kimball Area 8, Annandale 4
Brandon-Evansville 13, West Central Area 3 (6 innings)