Bucktail baseball racks up 30 runs in wild win at NoPo
By Bees O’Brien
Ulysses- Not since 2003 has a Bucktail baseball team done what the Bucks did on Saturday afternoon at Northern Potter. Bucktail crushed 25 hits and scored a whopping 30 runs to best District 9 foes Northern Potter 30-12. The 2003 Mid Penn champion Bucks plated 34 runs against Montgomery, which remains the highest single-game total in program history.
The Bucks jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning against the Panthers and following a 6-run third inning and a single run in the fourth inning, it looked as if Bucktail had their second win of the season well in hand.
NoPo had other plans.The Panthers would tie off of both Austin Mosher and Brett Mason for a combined 10 runs in the fourth inning to miraculously tie things up at 10-10.
The host Panthers’ lead wouldn’t hold against a barrage of Bucktail batters. The Bucks extended their lead to 14-10 following the top of the fifth inning.
Head coach Casey Friese needed an answer on the mound and he would find one in rarely used pitcher Kyler Friese. Friese has seen the bump in previous seasons, but this was his first pitching appearance of 2024 and he made it count.
Friese would get a solid defensive effort from his team and allow just 2 hits and a single run.
“He came in and shut it down.” said Friese “The team kept it together and cleaned up anything hit behind Kyler.”
The Bucks also managed to start making NoPo pay for their costly 7 errors by scoring 4 more runs in the sixth inning to hold an 18-12 lead before their final top of the seventh inning at bat.
The Bucks would explode for 12 runs in their final at bat and Friese would close down the game in the bottom of the seventh inning to give his squad their second win of 2024.
Friese was also unstoppable at the plate by going an incredible 6 for 7 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI’s. His freshman brother Keller Friese collected 4 hits, two of which were doubles. Braylon Fantaski had a 4-hit, 5 RBI day as well.
Starting pitcher Tyler Hillyer had 3 singles. Xander Shearer and Ethan Kalafut each collected a pair of hits, as did Brett Mason. Cael Dorman connected on a double and Ethan Charcalla completed the Bucktail hit parade with a single.
The Bucks improved their record to 2-11 and will next meet Sugar Valley (1-13) in Farwell on Tuesday. The Phoenix defeated Bucktail 12-0 on Wednesday at Taggert Park.
