The Nisswa Lightning and Buckman Billygoats will collide Monday in Faribault for the Minnesota Baseball Association Class C Championship.

Game time is Noon at Bell Field in Alexander Park North.

Buckman defeated the Dumont Saints 13-4 after the Watertown Red Devils bested the Bird Island Bullfrogs 3-2 in Faribault.

Nisswa crushed  the Jordan Brewers 14-2 in eight innings followed by a Delano Athletics 6-5 walk-off win over the St. Patrick Irish in Dundas,

Nisswa then downed Delano 10-8 in the Dundas Semifinal game while Buckman got by Watertown 6-4 in the Faribault Semifinal contest.

Buckman in Morrison County has a population of 309 according to the 2020 census while Nisswa is near Brainerd in Crow Wing County and has a population of 1,967.

The two communities are approximately 50 miles apart and play in the same Region 8 in which Nisswa won and Buckman finished third.

Nisswa has defeated Buckman twice this season.  Both games were played in Nisswa.  June 12 it was 15-3, July 24 the score was 10-4.

The Lightning have won 16 straight games.  They got by Raymond  6-5 last weekend by scoring two runs in the bottom of the 9th to advance to the round of 16.

Nisswa pitcher Nate DeChaine pitched the final two innings allowing 1 hit, walking 1, striking out 2 batters.  He also knocked in two runs.

The Lightning clubbed 3 doubles in the game. Top of the order hitter Kody Ruedisili had 2 hits including a double, an RBI and scored two runs.  Next hitter Nicholas Nelson hit a 2 run double, Tyler Wittwer cranked 3 hits including a double with an RBI in the 8 hit attack.

The Raymond Rockets smacked 13 hits in the season ending loss for them in Faribault.

Nisswa then downed New Ulm 4-2 in Faribault yesterday before their 14-2 eight inning win over Jordan in Dundas today.

The Lightning victory over Delano in Dundas featured DeChaine starting on the hill the first 5 1/3 innings scattering 5 hits, allowing 4 runs, 3 earned, walked 1 and struck out 4.

Brett Kramer, draftee from Fort Ripley went the final 3 2/3 innings, giving up 5 hits, 4 runs, 0 earned with 3 strikeouts and no walks.

Ruedisili had 3 hits, 4 RBI.  Jeremiah Piepkorn added a hit, 2 RBI for Nisswa in their trip to finals clincher.

In Faribault today Buckman scored 5 runs in the second inning, another 5 in the 5th during their 13-4 win over Dumont.

The Billygoats got outstanding pitching performances from 46 year old Todd Robinson and 51 year old draftee Mike Beier from Foley.  Beier is the baseball coach for Foley playing his 29th season of amateur baseball.

Nathan Ehnstrom, draftee from the Aitkin Steam started the Watertown game for Buckman facing 28 batters while allowing 4 runs, 11 hits, struck out 0 and walked 1 batter, with a hit batsman also.  He earned the win.

Matt Tautges finished the game going the final 3 2/3 innings to get the save.  He threw 40 pitches, 32 strikes with 2 hits allowed, 3 strikeouts, no walks.

The Billygoats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Lane Girtz hit a one out single, Noah Boser then smacked a 3-1 count pitch for a double scoring Girtz.

Following a strikeout Andrew Rueckert connected for a RBI single on a 0-1 count pitch.

Watertown answered in the top of the second inning.  With one out Jackson Meyer stroked a single on the first pitch.  Ben Theisen singled.  Jason Keavey hit a shot to third base that the official scorer gave a hit on and I thought should be an error.

It was right to the third baseman by the bag and if he catches it and steps on the bag the runner is out but in his attempt to apply the tag he dropped the ball.

Pat Tschida then cracked a 2-1 count pitch for a 2 RBI single to tie the game.

Buckman scored 3 runs in the third inning to chase starting pitcher Ansen Dulas out of the game.  He faced 14 batters in 2 1/3 innings, gave up 6 hits, 5 runs, all earned according to the official scorer, walked 1 struck out 4.

The Red Devils scored two runs in the top of the 6th inning to make things interesting.

Mitch Kelzer started the inning with a 0-1 count single.  Following an out Theisen was hit by a pitch.  Keavey hit a 2-1 count pitch for a single before Tschida smacked a 2-0 count double to knock in two runs.

That's when Tautges came in to put out the fire and pitched the rest of the way for the Billygoats.

Come out to Bell Field Monday.

The atmosphere is awesome with fans making noise and simply having fun watching people from their communities play their hearts out for love of competition and the game.

A lot of Minnesotans enjoy hunting.  Check this out.

States with the most registered hunters

Stacker analyzed data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine which states have the most registered hunters. Read on to see how your state ranks on Stacker’s list.

 

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