AMATEUR BASEBALL: McNallan's 8 innings, timely offense steer Blue Ox to home win

Jul. 9—BEMIDJI — After a doubleheader sweep, there's not much a team can do to complain.

A weekend sweep, though? That's seventh heaven. And that's what the Bemidji Blue Ox amateur baseball team mustered on a warm and blustery Sunday at the BSU baseball field.

A day after sweeping a road doubleheader against Ada, Bemidji returned home and recorded a tidy 5-1 win over Moorhead. Connor McNallan threw eight innings with just one run allowed, and the Blue Ox scored in four different frames to make it stand up.

"We played a couple of good teams early in the year, and we lost a lot of guys from last year's team," said player/manager Cody Rutledge. "So it's these new guys filling in different positions from years prior, and they're really catching their stride now this time of the season."

The Blue Ox (7-4) have found a solid rhythm, and on Sunday, it started with pitching. McNallan was masterful on the mound, mixing up a two-seam fastball with arm-side run and two consistent offspeed offerings. Hurling from a low-three-quarter release point, he confounded Moorhead's hitters all afternoon long.

"I think it was just the fastball, and then every once in a while mixing it up," McNallan said. "I didn't shake off my catcher (Caleb Manecke) once all day, and he deserves a lot of credit just for calling a great game. Knowing what I want to throw, where I want to throw it, and it worked out for us today."

Rutledge, who remained in the dugout defensively due to a recent groin injury, had a great vantage point to take in McNallan's performance.

"He had his stuff today," Rutledge said. "He was throwing super well on the mound. He had control of all three pitches that he was throwing. His two-seam was really diving away today and just unhittable almost for most of the game. ... He controlled the game really well."

McNallan was buttressed by some early run support. After Rutledge reached on a dropped popup in the second inning, Bazil Zuehlke sent him home with a double just over the head of the Moorhead right fielder to give the Blue Ox their first lead.

Bemidji added another in the third, as McNallan's RBI groundout scored Sam Kalberer to give the Blue Ox a 2-0 advantage. Kalberer moved from first to third on Manecke's frozen-rope double to deep left-center field earlier in the frame.

In the seventh, it was Kalberer's turn to drive in a run. His sacrifice fly scored Cody Jenkins, who led off the Bemidji half of the frame with a pinch-hit single to left. The Blue Ox drove in two more insurance scores in the eighth, as Aaron Heger scored on an error and Brandon Lussier doubled in Bazil Zuehlke.

Sawyer Nendick pitched a scoreless ninth, and with victory officially sealed, Bemidji was free to reflect on an excellent all-around effort.

"(The key is) trusting our coaches and our older guys that are making the lineup that if you're not in right away, you're going to get in, you're going to get at-bats," McNallan said. "We're going to hit (batting practice), so you've got to stay fresh, because you never know when you're going to get in.

"Cody Jenkins, he's been on the team a long time, didn't start today. Came in, had a big hit late, scored a run to put us up by (two). So that was an example of him being locked in throughout the game and ready to come in and get a hit, even if he wasn't in the starting lineup. So I think it's just trusting that coach is going to put you in a good position and just be ready to go hit."

Bemidji will return home in a few weeks for Sanford Health Family Night against Ada. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 26, at the BSU baseball field, with festivities also scheduled prior to the start of the game.

Bemidji 5, Moorhead 1

MHD 000 010 000 — 1-11-0

BEM 011 000 12X — 5-9-0

WP: McNallan (8 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K)

LP: Harris (5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K)