Blue Devils Fall to Isanti

Mora hosted Isanti on Wednesday night.

This game had a chance of not even being played due to all the rain during the day. But it all stopped in time to dry things out enough to get this game in. It was an important game to get played, because both teams were fighting for their spots in their divisions. Isanti needed a win to stay ahead of the two teams tied for 2nd in the south that were making late season surges. The Blue Devils were looking to close the gap between them and 3rd placed Quamba and then eventually 2nd placed Hinckley.

Through the first two innings it was a pretty good defensive battle between the two teams. Both starting pitchers had gotten off to good starts, it was the vet Phil Bray vs the younger Nathan Nelson. Through the first 2 innings, Nelson had allowed only 1 hit and struck out 2, while Bray had done the same. But in the 3rd innings the Redbirds offense was able to get on the board first. They gathered up 3 runs on 4 hits, and the Blue Devils were unable to answer the runs. Then in the 4th it looked as if Nelson and company had turned things around and could make it a quick inning after striking out the first two batters. After an error allowed a runner to reach the Redbirds would hit back to back to back RBI's. Then two batters later Brent Tholen hit a two run homer over the left field fence helping then to a 9-0 lead. Mora was able to get a base hit but that's all they could do. The Blue Devils did decide to go with a pitching change and brought in Bryce Norby. The next 3 innings were a defensive battle. Neither team could do much against the pitchers and even when they weren't getting it done themselves, the fielders were making plays. There were zero runs scored from the 5th to the 7th inning due to the strong plays on defense. In the 8th inning the Redbirds quickly were down to one out, then they saw a runner reach due to an error. This allowed the next batter to reach on a base hit. And now with runners at the corners Eli Nelson would come to the plate and hit what would wind up being the game winning RBI, putting his team ahead 10-0. The Blue Devils needed at least one run to extend the game into the 9th inning. But they were sent down 1, 2, 3 and the game ended in the 8th due to the 10 run rule.

The Blue Devils sit 4th in the Eastern Minny North division 2 games behind Quamba in 3rd and 3 behind Hinckley in 2nd. Mora wraps up their regular season play this weekend with three games at home. Starting on Friday with North Branch, then Saturday vs Cambridge and Sunday against Clear Lake.

Pitching

Mora: Nathan Nelson 3 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 8 runs(3 earned), 2 walks, 4 K's

Bryce Norby 2 1/3 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 3 K's

Austin Peterson 2 innings, 4 hits 1 runs, 1 walk, 4 K's