Prep Baseball: Menahga gains Park Region Conference sweep over Verndale

Levi Schwartz let loose the big bat in Menahga’s 13-3, five-inning victory over Verndale as the Braves swept a Park Region Conference doubleheader Thursday.

The eight-grader belted three doubles in the nightcap and drove in three runs as Menahga erased an early 3-1 deficit.

Menahga only had four hits in the seven run, second inning offensive burst. Schwartz led off the frame with a double and then drove in two runs later with a single as the Braves sent 12 batters to the plate. Stetson Burkman also drove in a pair of runs with a single Marlin Aho had the other base hit as Menahga capitalized on four walks and a fielder’s choice to run up the score.

Verndale scored their three runs in the first inning as Dustin Motschenbacher drove in a run with a double and Isaac Schmitz had a RBI single.

Menahga capped the scoring in the fifth inning to activate the 10-run rule when Derek Pihlaja drove in the last two runs with a double.

Aho was the winning pitcher on record for the Braves in the nightcap while Cody Yungbauer took the loss.

Kasey Tyge highlighted the Braves three run, third inning by driving in two runs with a single as Menahga took the opener 5-1. The junior also picked up the complete game win on the hill. He only surrendered three hits and struck out nine as Verndale scored their lone run in the bottom of the third on a Brave error.

“We played pretty good defense tonight, but we didn’t get any timely hitting.” Verndale Head Coach Matt Parker said.

Dallas Ehrmantraut, Nate Bart and Schmitz rattled off singles for the Pirates in the loss.

Menahga at Verndale on May 20
Braves 4, Pirates 1 (Game One)
Menahga 0 0 3 0 0 1 0—4 10 4
Verndale 0 0 1 0 0 0 0—1 3 1
WP: Kasey Tyge (Menahga) (7IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 3BB, 9K)
LP: Clay Cottrell (Verndale) (7IP, 10H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 7K)
Menahga—Sean Dormanen 3-4, 2B, R, RBI; Derek Pihlaja 1-4; Matt Skoog 1-4, R, RBI; Kasey Tyge 1-4, 2RBI; Ben Skoog 2-4; Levi Schwartz 2-3, 2B
Verndale—Dallas Ehrmantraut 1-3, R; Nate Bart 1-2; Issac Schmitz 1-3

Braves 13, Pirates 3 (Game Two) (5 innings)
Verndale 3 0 0 0 0—3 8 2
Menahga 1 7 1 1 3—13 11 3
WP: Marlin Aho (Menahga) (5IP, 8H, 3R, 0ER, BB, 3K)
LP: Cody Yungbauer (Verndale) (
Menahga—Dormanen 2-4, 2B, 2R, RBI; Matt Skoog 1-2, 2B, RBI; Pihlaja 2-3, 2R, 2RBI; Burkman 1-4, R, 2RBI; Schwartz 4-4, (3)2B, 2R, 3RBI; Aho 1-2
Verndale—Bart 1-2, R; Dustin Motschenbacher 2-3, 2B, R, RBI; Yungbauer 1-1, R; Mike Hejhal 2-3; Isaac Schmitz 2-3, 2B, RBI