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Timing is everything and such was the case in Faribault Friday night.  In a tight contest it was a mixture of a key hit, error, mental mistake or close call that either came at the right or wrong time that made the difference in the outcome. 

The Braves got on the board first with two runs in the first.  Chad Blaschko stole second and third base. Jason Hollom walked and stole second.  Both score on a single by  Mike Factor. 

In the second inning, Tim Palmquist walked, stole second and scored on Chad Blaschko’s single to put he Braves up 3-0. 

The Braves had runners on in three of the remaining five innings but could not produce any more runs. 

Walks can kill as the Flames capitalized by scoring three of their four free passes. 

Dave Custer got the complete game win, scattering seven Brave hits, while walking four, with five strikeouts. 

Ken Schmidt was tagged with the complete game loss, yielding three hits, with four free passes and fanning five. 

The Brave’s bats were not as hot as the weather producing only three singles on the day.  It was a bad sign early when in both the first and second innings they had the bases loaded with no outs and couldn’t score.  They could not take advantage of the six walks and three batters hit-by-pitch to punch across a run. 

Ross Thompson and Mark Pearson combined forces on the three- hitter for the Wilkats. 

Chad Blaschko, Brad Pelowski, Steve Biehn and Ken Schmidt did mound duty for the Braves.

Last Friday night the Searles Bullheads used timely hitting to put eight runs on the board.

They took advantage by wrapping their ten hits around four Brave errors. 

The Braves scored once in the first when Chad Blaschko singled, went to third on Brent Newman’s single and scored on a pick-off play. 

The seventh saw Lynn Schwarz reach on an error and Brad O’Keefe single.  Both scored when Blaschko singled and Newman reached on an error. 

Kevin Hulke got the complete game win allowing just  seven hits, walking two with seven strikeouts.  

Lynn Schwarz took the complete game loss for the locals walking none and fanning four. 

The Braves had their hitting shoes on compiling sixteen for the game.  Dusty Gibbs led the attack and had a career night going four for four, with a four RBI and a run scored.  

Two Aler’s pitchers toed the rubber for Jordan allowing the twelve runs, walking five, hitting two and fanning six.  

The Braves were also very uncharacteristically generous in the field committing eight errors, all in the infield.  Mike Blaschko got the complete game win allowing eight hits, walking four along with eleven strikeouts.  All seven Aler runs were unearned. 

In the home half of the first, four runs were plated as Blaschko walked, Chip Schloesser singled, Mike Factor and Pete Plut hit back-to-back doubles, and Gibbs singled. 

Three scored in the second as Blaschko was hit by a pitch, Schloesser and Factor walked to load the bases.  Plut singled home two and Gibbs singled home another. 

In the third, Tim Palmquist singled, as did Brad O’Keefe and Blaschko to produce two more runs. 

Leading 9-0, the Braves seemed to lose focus, committing seven errors (bad throws and dropped balls) in the next four innings. 

In the home half of the fourth, Schloesser and Factor both singled.  After a sac fly and a stolen base both scored on a double by Gibbs. 

St.  Louis Park hit the ball harder but the Braves took advantage of eight walks and a hit batter to score enough for the win.  They also played enough defense to keep the Cardinals off of the scoreboard. 

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead with a run in the first on a single, stolen base and two ground outs. 

The Braves came back in the bottom of the third inning taking advantage of four walks, a hit batter and a 4-6-3 double play to produce three runs. 

The Braves extended the lead to 5-1 in the fifth when Brent Newman singled, Mike Factor walked, Russ Ehlers reached on a fielder’s choice and Jason Hollom singled and a wild pitch plated Ehlers. 

St. Louis Park tallied a run in the sixth on three singles. 

The Cardinals got a run in the seventh on three consecutive singles to finish their scoring.  A Cardinal base running miscue put a dent in the Cardinal’s comeback attempt. 

Two Cardinal pitchers combined to give up the five runs, on only three hits but hit a batter and contributed eight walks to the Braves’s offensive efforts.  They also tallied five strikeouts. 

Lynn Schwarz hurled the first six innings for the Braves allowing three runs on six hits, walking two and fanning three.  Ken Schmidt came on in the ninth with two runners on, allowing one hit in getting the final three outs.

It was a beautiful night for baseball at Veseli and the Braves came home with a win that got a little too close for comfort at the finish.  In the bottom of the seventh Veseli has runners at second and third with two outs and a shot was stroked toward the leftfield corner by Troy Schoenbauer, but Brent Newman made a sprinting snag of the liner to preserve the win. 

The Braves got on the board first, in the top of the second, when Chad Anderson singled, stole second and scored on a single by Chip Schloesser. 

The Vulcans answered with a run in the second when Jim Cavanaugh was hit by a pitch and proceeded to score on singles by Randy Sirek and Angel Cortez. 

The Braves took back the lead in the third when Dusty Gibbs singled, reached second on a throwing error by the catcher and scored on Mike Blaschko’s single. 

The visitors plated two in the fourth as Anderson singled to left, Mike Factor doubled to the left-center field gap scoring Anderson.  Schloesser again followed with an RBI single to score Factor. 

The Vulcans crept closer with a run in the sixth as two errors on an infield grounder put Curt Boltman at third and he did score on a groundout. 

Boltman went the distance on the hill for Veseli and he kept the Braves off balance racking up twelve strikeouts, while allowing the four runs, on nine hits and a walk. 

Blaschko got the complete game win for the locals giving up two runs, one earned, on four hits, a hit batter and two free passes.

The Le Center Braves hosted the Le Sueur Legends last Friday night in the season opener for both teams.  It was a beautiful evening for an exhibition game and the Braves used marginal hitting and crisp defense to come out on top. 

Three Brave’s pitchers combined on the shutout with great support from the defense.  Mike Blaschko went the first six innings, allowing four hits, a walk and fanning five.  Pete Plut logged two frames yielding no hits, three walks and a strikeout.  Ken Schmidt induced three groundouts in the 9^th inning. 

Legend pitchers looked sharp racking up twelve strikeouts. Southpaw, Scott Hanks, started on the hill, going three innings, allowing a run, four hits, along with six strikeouts.  John Hank followed with four strong innings, yielding a run, three hits, two free passes, hit one batter and fanned five.  Tony Nagel hurled the bottom of the eighth, giving up one hit and notching two strikeouts. 

In the Braves first inning with two outs, Mike Blaschko singled and scored on a double by Brent Newman.  They added an insurance run in the seventh when Mike Factor was hit by a pitch, and Pete Plut and Jason Hollom followed with singles. 

The Legends did have runners in scoring position in the first, second, third, fourth and seventh innings but couldn’t come up with the clutch RBI hit. 

The Braves want to thank a nice turnout of fans at the game and they hope to see continued growing fan attendance and support.