Defending district champs Millville completes sweep of Bucktail baseball

By Bees O’Brien

MILLVILLE- The Bucktail baseball team somehow found a way to sneak in a second game this week in what has been a drenching week for high school sports. The Bucks found themselves taking a long trip to meet the defending District IV 1A champion Millville Quakers on Friday afternoon.

Millville completely dismantled the Bucks 22-3 in their season opener in Farwell  back in March. This time around it would take the Quakers six innings to finally defeat a slowly improving Bucktail team.

Millville used 4 passed balls, seven timely hits and 5 runs in the first two innings of play to eventually down the Bucks 11-1 in six innings to improve to 6-2 on the season.

The Quakers scored a pair of runs in the first inning and added 3 more in the bottom of the second inning to grab a 5-0.

Cael Dorman’s double to start the top of the third inning set up a Keller Friese RBI single to score the Bucks’ only run of the game. Millville responded with 4 more in their half of the third inning to take a 9-1 lead.

Another run in the bottom of the fifth inning and the final run in the bottom of the sixth inning implemented the mercy rule.

Keller Friese came on in relief for the Bucks and allowed just 3 earned runs. All of the Bucks’ errors came during his 4 and 1/3 innings of work, including multiple passed balls. Despite the defensive miscues, Friese managed 6 strike outs.

Ethan Kalafut and Nick Dennis each delivered singles to go along Dorman’s double and Friese’s RBI single.

Bucktail head coach Casey Friese continues to see positives with his squad.

“One bright spot is our middle infield. Tyler (Hillyer) is really emerging as a top-tier shortstop.” Said Friese “Charcalla’s playing his best baseball at second as a senior. He’s been steady, confident and making plays.”

Now 1-5, the Bucks will next be in action on Tuesday when they host MPC East rival Northwest (4-3) in Farwell.