Amateur Baseball: Region 14C: Nimrod outduels Bluffton, 4-1

Bluffton’s Kyle Dykhoff and Nimrod’s Ben Bestland were locked in a pitchers duel for the good part of the Region 14C second round game at New York Mills on Sunday morning. Unfortunately for the Braves, it was the Gnats that found a way to pester Dykhoff for enough runs to pull out a 4-1 victory.

Nimrod broke opening the scoreless game with a run in the bottom of the sixth on a Bluffton fielding error that scored Aaron Funk. The Gnats posted a crooked number in the eighth to push their lead to 4-0 and knock Dykhoff off the hill.

The Gnats’ Gunner Johnson led off the inning with a walk, advanced to third on a double from designated hitter Aaron Funk and scored on single from Steve Funk. Cody Pulju drove in a run with a RBI single and Zack Johnson hit a two-out sacrifice fly to center to score Pulju. Kevin Tumberg came in relief for Dykhoff with the bases loaded and got Alex Brockpahler to fly out to end the inning.

The Braves spoiled Bestland’s shutout bid in the top of the ninth when Josh Sweere reached on a error in center field and advanced to second on the play. Two groundouts later, Sweere came around on a RBI single from Jake Seelhammer.

Bestland ended up going the distance to post the victory. He limited the Braves to seven hits, walked three and only registering one strikeout. The Gnats collected eight hits in the contest with Steve Funk and Dylan Shequen registering two hits apiece.

Dykhoff was tagged with the loss despite the solid effort, but three Bluffton errors were too much for the righty to overcome. He walked three, struck out five and registered two hits in the loss.

Dustin Geiser also had two hits for the Braves, who fell into the elimination game with Staples later that afternoon at 5 p.m. in Carlos.

Region 14C Playoffs
Bluffton vs. Nimrod (at New York Mills) on August 7
Gnats 4, Braves 1
Bluffton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1—1 7 3
Nimrod 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 x—4 8 1
WP: Ben Bestland (Nimrod) 9IP, 7H, 1R, 0ER, 3BB, 1K
LP: Kyle Dykhoff (Bluffton) 7.2IP, 8H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 5K
Bluffton—Dustin Geiser 2-4; Dykhoff 2-4; Marc Sweere 1-4; Josh Sweere 1-4, R; Jake Seelhammer 1-4, RBI
Nimrod—Zak Johnson 1-3, RBI; Paul Funk 1-3, R; Aaron Funk 1-3, R, 2B; Steve Funk 2-4, RBI; Cody Pulju 1-2, R, RBI; Dylan Shequen 2-3

BOXSCORE & GAME SUMMARY (Courtesy of Ron Berns)