After losing in a low-scoring battle on the road against Albert Lea, the Owatonna baseball team looked to bounce back against non-conference opponent Marshall at home on their Senior Night.
The Huskies offense delivered on Friday night against the Marshall Tigers as they won 7-2. Senior Michael Reinardy came into pitch the third inning and ended up pitching five innings, allowing only one earned run.
Senior outfielder Ethan Armstrong led off for the Huskies in the bottom of the first and recorded a hit to right field. He rounded first trying to get a double off the hit, but he was tagged out at second base.
Senior infielder Mitchell Seykora then hit a single and reached third base after a double by junior outfielder Tayte Berg. Senior outfielder Owen Beyer hit a ball in the outfield that was long enough for Seykora to score off a sacrifice fly.
Berg then advanced to third on a wild pitch, and soon after that, senior second baseman Michael Reinardy was hit by a pitch. The Huskies were not able to capitalize, though, as the inning ended with runners on the corners, but they still had a 1-0 lead heading into the second.
Marshall’s senior catcher Talan Plante singled to start the top of the second, with Brayden Ust coming in for him to pinch run. The move worked out for Marshall, as Ust stole second to put a runner in scoring position with no outs.
After a fly out to center field for the first out of the inning, Ust went for third base but was out after a perfect throw by Beyer. Junior Connor Wiese, the starting pitcher for the Huskies, got out of the inning without allowing a run after a pop out deep in the infield.
In the bottom of the second, the Huskies had a two out rally as they scored four more runs to make it 5-0. Senior Nathan Theis started the rally with an infield single and Armstrong drew a walk to put a runner in scoring position.
Seykora recorded his second hit of the night with a double to score pinch runner Tyler Sheehan. Armstrong scored after a dropped popup in the infield by the Tigers.
The Huskies scored the next two runs off of a single by Beyer and a double by Reinardy. The two-out rally finally ended with a groundout with runners on second and third. Six straight Huskies reached base in the rally.
After drawing a walk to start the top of the third, Wiese was replaced by Reinardy to pitch. After recording an out, Reinardy allowed a long home run by Marshall’s Andrew Stelter to cut the Huskies lead to three.
Reinardy then settled in and ended the inning without giving up any more runs, thanks to a spectacular grab by Truelson at first base, not allowing an extra-base hit opportunity. Reinardy pitched the rest of the game not allowing a run.
The Huskies scored one in the third and one in the fourth to take a commanding 7-2 lead. Heading into the ninth with a five run lead, Reinardy pitched a 1-2-3 inning as the Huskies won against the Tigers 7-2.
The win improves Owatonna’s record to 11-5-1 overall. It is currently tied in fifth place with Albert Lea in the Big 9 Conference. The Huskies were scheduled to take on Mankato East Monday night at 5 p.m.
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