The warm Florida sunshine helped to shed light on the positive despite the pair of losses the Dakota County Technical College Blue Knights suffered while opening the 2006 baseball season in a doubleheader against Rend Lake (IL).
During the first game, hits ruled the board with Rend Lake managing 21 hits to DCTC’s 10. At the end of two innings, the score was 2-1 in favor of Rend Lake, but things quickly changed. A series of six walks and five hits from Rend Lake proved to be too much for the Blue Knights.
“We tell the pitchers if they throw strikes and let the defense help, we have a chance. That just didn’t happen today. We all know it is our first game. I am confident we will see improvement,” said Blue Knights head coach Tim Huber.
While the loss was tough, the offense did manage to pound out 12 hits. Mike Krejci, Ryan Van Dusen, Alex Smith, Jared Powell and Dale Stein each had two hits in the game. Van Dusen and Krejci connected with home runs and Powell and Krejci added doubles.
The second game proved to be much better for the Blue Knights, complete with a pitching duel until the sixth inning, when Rend Lake broke a 2-2 tie with a couple base hits and bunt hits, plating four runs to take control.
The Blue Knights were able to add a run at the top of the seventh inning and got the tying run to the plate with two runners on base. The cards did not fall in Blue Knights favor, however, giving the team another tough loss at 6-3.
Dave Geiger started game two for the Blue Knights, allowing just two hits and two runs, one of which was unearned, during the first five frames. The Blue Knights showed hitting strength, with 12 hits compared to Rend Lake’s 7, but left seven men stranded on base. Smith and Van Dusen continued to swing the bat well, putting up two hits each, along with Alex Hanson-Michelson, Paul Krebs and Kyle Sovde.
The guys played very well in the second game,” said coach Huber. “We had a chance to win and got a great outing from Geiger. These were our first games of the season and Rend Lake had played 12 games already. I am very pleased with our overall performance against this quality team.”
The Blue Knights will continue their Florida road trip with the next game scheduled for March 12 against Fergus Falls.
For more information on Blue Knights baseball or other athletics, visit us online atwww.goblueknights.com
