Amateur Baseball: Bluffton sparkles late in win over Millers; hammer Dent 9-0

Kyle Dykhoff and Kevin Tumberg tossed a pair of four-hitters as the Bluffton Braves ran their win streak to three straight with victories over New York Mills and Dent during Hi-10/Countryside amateur baseball action this past week.

Dykhoff went the whole nine and struck out 12 during the 3-2 victory over New York Mills on July 2. He also helped his cause at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double as the Braves rallied from a 2-1 deficit to pull out the win in the late innings.

Bluffton struck first with a run in the top of the fourth. Dykhoff led off the frame with a double and then scored when Marc Sweere laced a single into right field.

The Millers answered in the bottom of the fifth with two runs. Josh Hendrickx ripped a two out, bases-loaded single into right, but Bluffton catcher Dustin Geiser nailed Michael Baune at third on the play to prevent the Millers from doing further damage.

Nick Goeden drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game up in the top of the eighth and the Braves scored the game-winner in the ninth. Kurt Mursu led off the frame with a walk, and two outs later, Cody Geiser lobbed a fly to right that was misplayed by the Millers’ outfielder, allowing Mursu to race in from first.

Bluffton registered six hits in the game with Marc Sweere also going 2-for-3 with a ribbie in the win.

The Braves strung together 11 hits on Wednesday enroute to the 8-0 whitewashing of the Wildcats at Jake Wolford Field in Dent.

Tumberg pulled double duty to lift the Braves to their third consecutive win, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a ribbie at the plate. He also limited the Wildcats to four hits and struck out seven to pick up the complete game win.

Bluffton notched single runs in the first, second and fourth frames before tallying two in the fifth for the 5-0 lead. The Braves capped the scoring with three runs in the eighth for the 8-0 final.

Dykhoff and Mursu registered a pair of hits for Bluffton.

Bluffton (7-8) hosts Perham at 1:30 p.m. Sunday

Bluffton at New York Mills on July 2
Braves 3, Millers 2
Bluffton 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1—3 7 1
New York Mills 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0—2 4 3
WP: Kyle Dykhoff (Bluffton) 9IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 12K
LP: Brandan Kupfer (NYM)
Bluffton—Dustin Geiser 1-3; Cody Geiser 1-4, RBI; Dykhoff 2-3, 2R, 2B; Marc Sweere 2-3, RBI; Kevin Tumberg 1-3, 2B
New York Mills—Michael Baune 1-2; Josh Hendrickx 1-4, 2RBI; Jarrod Norton 1-4; Kupfer 1-2, R

Bluffton at Dent on July 6
Braves 8, Wildcats 0
Bluffton 1 1 0 1 2 0 0 3 0—8 11 0
Dent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0—0 4 2
WP: Kevin Tumberg (Bluffton) 9IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 4BB, 7K
LP: Stoll (Dent)
Bluffton—Dustin Geiser 1-4, RBI; Cody Geiser 0-3, RBI; Dykhoff 2-4, R, 2B; Marc Sweere 1-5, RBI; Josh Sweere 1-4, RBI; Tumberg 3-5, 2R, RBI; David Najjar 0-2, RBI; Kurt Mursu 2-3, RBI; Nick Goeden 1-3, 2RBI
Dent—Gabe Pankonin 1-4; Jesse Hein 1-3; Jeff Ronning 1-3; Stoll 1-3