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Eden Prairie Lions Tap Rookie pitcher Brian Sellner won his fourth game of the year by retiring 15 of the 17 batters he faced, allowing only one hit through five innings but Lions Tap needed an eight-run sixth inning to pull away from the pesky but erring Jordan Alers 15-6.  

Lions Tap had only two hits, but led 7-1 before Jordan rallied for five  runs in the sixth inning. Tap bats awoke with 11 men coming to the plate.  Todd Groves started the RBI parade with a sharp single to left. Before the inning was over, Carlos Ubiera and Ron Saatzer each contributed two-run singles.  

Play of the day belonged to the Jordan Alers, whose Brad  Bush galloped and galloped and galloped almost to the right field corner in foul territory to rob Saatzer of another swing in the first inning with a falling over-the-shoulder  catch of a towering foul fly.   Saatzer later straightened one out for a deep double to the gap in right center to score Dave Fuecker from first base as part of his three-RBI day.  

Bush’s catch was one of the many most unusual plays  you are going to see in this wonderful  game of baseball. For example Scott Anderson drove in a Lions Tap run with a sacrifice pop fly near home plate . . . or  an Eden Prairie run scoring when the Jordan catcher threw a perfect bullet to third to try to get a runner. Trouble is the third baseman was looking toward the runner and never saw the throw.  

Tap reliever Dave Kloster got the save by putting himself in a bases-loaded hole, four runs in no outs.  Kloster proceeded to strikeout four batters to close out the Alers.

The Jordan Millers survived giving up 10 walks and hitting three batters when Pete Buesgens cleared the bases with a double in a five-run fifth inning that sparked a 6-4 win over Eden Prairie Lions Tap at Round Lake Stadium. Buesgens took third on his drive over the left fielder’s head when the fielder  had the ball squirt out of  his hand in trying to relay it back to the infield and and then scored on another of EP’s five errors.  Jordan’s No. 3 hitter finished with four RBI, incuding an RBI single in the third inning.

Carlos Ubiera drove in two runs with a double to give the Tap a 3-1 lead in the third inning.  Steve Brown celebrated the birth of a new son, Karston last Sunday with two RBIs on a sacrifice fly and sharp single.  Brian Sellner pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief of hard luck losing pitcher Dave Sobiech

Eden Prairie lLion's Tap oaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh on a hit/error, booming double by Dave Fuecker and an intentional walk. A tense seesaw battled ended with Brian Sellner being hit by a pitch and driving in the winning run as Lions Tap capped a rallying 5-4 victory.  

Veseli had tied the game in the top half of the inning. Lions Tap spotted Veseli a 3-0 lead before roaring back to take 4-3 lead. It started with two walks and an error to load the basis to set up Scott Luhman’s two-run double to right. Fuecker and Carlos Ubiera followed with run-scoring singles.  

Starting pitcher Fuecker shrugged off giving up two runs in the first and an unearned run in the third to keep the game close. Sellner picked up the win in relief with two strikeouts.

Dave Sobiech, a 62-year-old hurling like a 37-year-old ace, scattered four hits and drove in the game’s first two runs with nicely placed fielder’s choices, notching his 88^th career win and hurling Eden Prairie Lions Tap to a 5-0 victory over the SeaFoam Hawks at Concordia College.  

Sobiech, who pitched Lions Tap to the state championship with a 1-0 victory over the St. Paul Saints 25 years ago,  struck out four and walked one and  flashed gold glove defense, twice racing to first take putouts on grounders to second baseman Scott Anderson, diving off the mound  to spear a grounder and grabbing a line drive to start the game-ending double play.    

Scott Cote contributed two hits, including a double and an RBI single. Scott Luhman, sacrifice fly, and Brian Sellner, fielder’s choice, also drove in the other Tap runs, who ended a 15-inning scoreless streak in the second inning.

LeSueur-Henderson Legends ace Jason Borchardt shut out Eden Prairie Lions Tap 2-0 on only three hits and also drove in the first and deciding run of the game with one of his two singles in a brilliant pitching duel with Dave Kloster, one-hitter for four innings, and Brian Sellner, four hits and one earned run. Borchardt struck out eight and walked five.

Eden Prairie broke open a close game with 12 runs the last three innings and Brian Sellner pitch four innings of two hit relief to earn the win.  

There was a cavalcade of hitting stars, including St. Patrick’s Dan Pupple with three RBI and a two-run home run that gave the Shamrocks a short-lived 4-3 lead in the third inning.  

Lions Tap was led by Dave Fuecker’s four hits and four RBI, leadoff man Steve Brown reaching  base five times and scoring three and Carlos Ubiera collecting three hits and four RBI. Catcher Brad Bienkowski had two hits, scored two runs, drove in one and stole two bases and scored the tie breaking run on a Fuecker double in the fifth inning.

Dave Fuecker exploded out of a 1-for-17 slump with three hits, including two screaming doubles, and drove in three runs to power Lions Tap to a 7-4 victory Sunday over the visiting Waconia Islanders. Then, he pitched two scoreless innings of relief of winning pitcher Todd Groves, who held Waconia to three hits and worked around six walks.  

Ron Saatzer scored two runs and had two hits, including a towering double, while Rod Helling had two hits and two RBI.

The New Hope Bandits rolled to a 7-0 lead and then needed a pickoff play  at third to survive a furious seventh rally by the eight-man Eden Prairie Lions Tap team that ended up on the bottom of a 7-5 verdict.  

Dave Kloster held the Bandits to only two hits the first four innings before he was relieved, and the Lions Tap defense fell apart with four errors the last two innings.  

Steve Brown led Tap with three hits and two RBI and Carlos Ubiera had two RBI in the seventh inning.

Pat Thompson set a Lions Tap team record, the oldest player to get a hit (70), a sharp single off winning pitcher Jeff Stoneking, who had allowed only four hits until the seventh inning. Of course, no one 70 has played with the team until now.  

They could have played all night.  

Freight Train Dave Fuecker of Lions Tap hooked up with  Mike Hancuch of the Sox in an intense pitching duel. Fuecker won out in 10 innings, 4-2, with the winning run scoring on a three-base Loretto error.  Fuecker walked three, struck out 10 and scattered five hits in his career best pitching victory.  

Hancuch struck out 10 and spaced seven hits before leaving the game after the ninth inning with a back injury. Tap won the game in the top of the 10^th when Ron Saatzer walked and raced around the bases to score the tie-breaking run on Brad Bienkowski’s bunt single that the Loretto catcher pounced on and threw into foul territory along the right field line.  

Lions Tap got another run on a RBI bunt single from Joel Barta, who had a bases-loaded RBI  in the 10^th when he was hit by a pitch after the tying run had scored.  

Tap had three bunt singles and stole seven bases, two each by Dave Kloster and Carlos Ubiera, who has 140 career stolen bases in 14-plus seasons.

Dave Kloster, four innings 1 hit allowed with 6 strikeouts, and Aaron Kahre, 1 hit allowed with five strikeouts, set down Webster’s Wildkats Sunday for Eden Prairie Lions Tap Sunday at windy Miller Park in Eden Prairie.  Kudos to outfielders on both teams who played errorless ball, made nice catches and strong throws on both sides in the gusty conditions.  

Kloster recorded his first four outs via strikeouts and survived Webster’s best scoring threat with the bases loaded when Scott Anderson started a 4-6-3 double play.  

Lions Tap roared to a four-run first inning lead with six straight solid singles to open the game by Tony Krick, Kloster, Scott Luhman, Carlos Ubiera, Aaron Kahre and Brad Bienkowski.  Luhman had three  hits, stole two bases.  

In four River Valley games, Lions Tap has allowed two earned runs in winning three out of four to start the year.

Rookie Brian Sellner spaced out six hits and allowed only one earned run as Eden Prairie Lions Tap cruised to a 7-3 victory over the Bloomington Eagles at Red Haddox Field in Bloomington. Sellner was staked to a 7-0 lead, struck out six and walked four in picking up the win.   

Driving in two runs each for Lions Tap were leadoff hitter Tony Krick, Scott Luhman and doubles machine Aaron Kahre, with two two-baggers.  

ESPN contacted Tap after the game for footage of two web gems, shortstop Ubiera fielding a carom off the third baseman and throwing out a runner deep in the hole and center fielder Dave Kloster send a one-hop cannon peg to cut down a runner by 10 feet trying to score from second on a hit.  

John Bannigan, in relief of ace Scott McNally, silenced EP bats the final four innings with only one unearned run allowed.

Edina Grays must have been humming “What goes around, comes around.”  

Dan Quinlan, beaten 17-4 by Tap last season,  skunked Eden Prairie 1-0 Sunday with seven strikeouts and a six-hitter supported by outstanding Grays’ defense.  

The Grays scored their only run in the first inning after Jim Lindholm reached base on a passed ball strikeout and later scored on a wild pitch strikeout.  

Edina got only one hit in the game, in the first inning off hard-luck loser Todd Groves, who had seven strikeouts, and none off Dave Klosters, who had five Ks in three innings of relief.  

Lions Tap had runners in scoring position all seven innings, but couldn’t push in a run, including the sixth inning when Quinlan worked out of a bases-loaded fix against the heart of the order.  

“The game was closer than the final score indicated,” said Tap manager Pat Thompson. “Hats off to True Grit Quinlan.”

Todd Groves (four innings one run allowed to notch the victory Sunday), Dave Kloster (striking out the side in one inning work) and Sellner (two unearned runs) combined to hurl Tap’s season opening 10-3 win over the Goats with a four-hitter and 10 strikeouts.

Aaron Kahre had two doubles, one scoring Kloster from first.  Scott Anderson scored two runs, had a hit starting a three-run third, had a walk and was hit by pitch.  Sellner also had two hits and an RBI. Scott Luhman had a two-run single. Other RBI: Carlos the Golden Puma, Steve Brown, Brad Bienkowski and Tony Krick (on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded)