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Amateur Baseball: Bluffton suicide squeezes way to 3-2 win over Pirates
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Kevin Tumberg's bunt during a suicide squeeze in the seventh inning surprised the visiting Perham Pirates, and drove in Marc Sweere from third base for in the winning run during the Braves' 3-2 victory in Sunday's Hi-10 League action. Photos by Dylan Isola/Beyond the Bleachers
With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Bluffton manager Terry Geiser made a gutsy call that turned the tide in the Braves’ favor when he called for a suicide squeeze with one out and a runner on third.
Marc Sweere had led off the inning by ripping a double into the right-center gap. After Josh Sweere flew out to center, Geiser made the call after a wild pitch by the Pirates’ Shane Miller advanced Marc Sweere to third with Kevin Tumberg at the plate.
Tumberg laid down a perfect bunt that fell a few feet in front of the plate, surprising the visitors and allowed Sweere to come barreling home before they could react on the play.
Bluffton kept the momentum going as Nick Goeden laced a Texas-league hopper into right field, advancing Tumberg to third. Another Miller wild pitch scored Tumberg to make it 3-1.
Bluffton nearly scored in the fifth inning, but Josh Sweere was gunned down from a throw from right field at the plate while attempting to score from second.
Perham got a run back in the top of the eighth when Brad Ellingson scored off a wild pitch and then threatened to break the game open, but Bluffton starter Dustin Geiser escaped the bases-loaded jam by catching the next Pirate batter in the order looking at a third strike.
Geiser ended up striking out 13 in the complete game win. He allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and walked two.
The Pirates struck first in the top of the second inning on Evan Meece’s lazy fly to center that scored Jon Langlie, who beat out a close play at the plate when he raced home from first.
Bluffton tied it up in the bottom of the sixth when back-to-back Pirate errors pushed Dustin Geiser all the way over to third. Cody Geiser scored the equalizer with a RBI fielders choice.
Perham outhit the Braves by one, 6-5 and were led by Tyler Doll, who went 2-for-2 on the afternoon. Miller was tagged with the loss on the hill for the Pirates after replacing starter Jonnie Schmitz, who suffered an elbow inflammation after the first inning.
Dustin Geiser struck out 13 batters and walked just two in nine innings to pick up the win on the hill for Bluffton
The victory allowed the Braves to leapfrog the Pirates by a half-game in the Hi-10 League standings. Bluffton (8-8 overall, 6-5 Hi-10) is currently in fourth, while Perham (8-9, 6-6) is in fifth. Detroit Lakes sits atop the Hi-10 standings with a 11-2 record, followed by Bertha (9-4) and Wadena-Deer Creek (8-3).
Bluffton travels to Henning to play the Giants at 7:30 p.m. Friday and wrap up the week at home against New York Mills at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Perham at Bluffton on July 10
Braves 3, Pirates 2
Perham 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0—2 6 3
Bluffton 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 x—3 5 2
WP: Dustin Geiser (Bluffton) 9IP, 6H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 13K
LP: Shane Miller (Perham) 8IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K
Perham—Miller 2-4; Jon Langlie 1-4, R; Evan Meece 1-3, RBI; Tyler Doll 2-2
Bluffton—Dustin Geiser 1-3, R, 2B; Cody Geiser 0-3, RBI; Kyle Dykhoff 1-3; Marc Sweere 1-4, R, 2B; Kevin Tumberg 0-2, R, RBI; Nick Goeden 1-1; Jake Seelhammer 1-2
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