Baseball: Skid reaches three games

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Heading into the final week of the regular season, Farmington is still trying to consistently put together complete games.

The Tiger pitching staff allowed 21 runs and the defense committed six errors in a doubleheader sweep at the hands of 17th-ranked (Class 3A) Red Wing last Thursday, then the offense struggled to come up with timely hits in a 5-4 setback Monday at Lakeville South. The three losses dropped the Tigers to 4-15 overall heading into Tuesday’s regular season finale at Hastings.

Lakeville South 5,

Farmington 4

The Tigers played errorless defense, but Lakeville South connected on two home runs against starter Zach Wallace and held on for a 5-4 win.

Farmington led 2-0 after an inning thanks to a pair of errors and back-to-back RBI singles from Ty Vincent and Zac Payne. That was all the offense the visitors would produce until Payne’s solo home run made it 5-3 in the top of the sixth. A Vincent RBI single in the seventh cut the deficit to one, but the tying run was stranded in scoring position to end the game.

Dayne Eich came in for Wallace and pitched two innings of scoreless relief.

Red Wing 9,

Farmington 2

Wallace was the starter in the first game of last Thursday’s doubleheader and surrendered six runs on 11 hits in five innings against a Red Wing team that hits .361 collectively and averages more than seven runs per game.

Vincent drove in both runs in Game 1, the first on a solo home run in the second inning. He added an RBI single in the fourth. Nate Graham also had two hits.

Cole Luskey and Merle came out of the bullpen to get the final three outs.

Red Wing 12,

Farmington 9

The Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings in second game, but the last of five errors led to three unearned Red Wing runs in the top of the eighth inning and allowed the Wingers to complete the sweep.

Farmington once again took an early lead, plating three runs in the bottom of the second. That frame featured a Vincent RBI triple and a two-run single by John Stibal.

The Tigers then scored two runs apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to tie the score at 9-9. Graham brought in a run in the fifth with a base hit and Jake Baskerville belted a two-run double in the sixth before a Stibal single and a passed ball allowed the Tigers to tie the score in the seventh.

Eich started and allowed eight runs (six earned) over the first four innings.

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