The standings for the other RVL squads are as follows: Jordan (5-0), Gaylord (4-2), Le Sueur (2-3), Arlington (2-4) and Henderson (0-6).

On Sunday, July 19, at 6 p.m., the opponent will be Arlington, whom Belle Plaine bopped 11-6 on July 1, and Gaylord will seek revenge when Ruehling’s Wreckers hit the road on Tuesday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m.

Channel 9’s Town Ball Tour

Although we usually only preview a week’s worth of games at a time, mark your calendar for Wednesday, July 22, for a Tiger baseball doubleheader. Belle Plaine will be part of FOX 9’s “Town Ball Tour” when it hosts Henderson at 7:30 p.m., but the 35-and-older Gray Tigers will play the Jordan Millers at 5 p.m., in part so that FOX 9 will have some live (if not slower) action as part of that hour’s newscast. FOX 9 television celebrities will be in and out of Tiger Park all day and night long, with the park being featured at various points during the station’s newscasts.

Also coming together on this memorable evening is the now-annual Tiger Alumni Night – there will be no game, but all alumni are invited to attend – as Dave “Greek” Wagner is honored with the unveiling of his Hall of Fame plaque amongst the other Tiger immortals. It will also be Little League Night, as Greek gives the little chippers something to dream towards.

Gaylord 4 @ BP 5

Tuesday, July 7

Gaylord came to town for a mid-week tilt and brought current minor-league pitcher Brody Rodning, a member of the Toronto Blue Jays organization, who is out of work at the moment due to Covid-19 and the cancellation of the MiLB season. This was as close as most of your Tigers would ever get to professional baseball, and Rodning showed why. He struck out 13 batters in five innings, yielding just two hits. Despite your local ball club being on the wrong end of Rodning’s reckoning, most baseball enthusiasts enjoyed watching a pitcher of his magnitude work.

With the Islanders up 3-0 in the fifth, Gaylord got their first two hitters on base and brought up their feared No. 3 hitter, Erik Goetsch. Much to the surprise and delight of the Tiger dugout, the Islanders laid down a sacrifice bunt to give away an out. Even more surprising was when they completed a suicide squeeze with their No. 4 hitter to score one run, giving away another out. One out later, the local nine had escaped what could’ve been a big inning – instead allowing only one run. With Rodning done pitching after the fifth, this proved to be important later in the game.

Despite quiet bats for most of the night – including a total of 19 strikeouts – in the eighth inning, the Tigers scored four runs thanks to some timely hits.

In the bottom of the ninth, two quick outs made it look like El Tigre would be heading for extra innings. But a base hit by Brody Curtiss, followed by a stolen base, led to a walk-off double from Derek Dahlke to complete the comeback and sent Tiger fans home happy.

The locals tallied nine hits, with Curtiss and Dahlke each belting three. Dahlke started on the mound and went 2.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned). Andrew Fisel threw the next 4.1 frames, giving up only one run. Colton Kerkow grabbed the win by throwing the final two innings without giving up a run.

BP 4 @ Jordan 12

Friday, July 10

The Tigers traveled seven miles up the Highway 169 corridor to take on the defending state champions, the Jordan Brewers. Fireworks erupted in the top of the first inning when Tyler O’Brien smacked a home run on the first pitch of the game. Unfortunately, the flame was quickly smothered as Jordan bounced back with five runs in the bottom of the first inning, aided by five Tiger errors.

Belle Plaine used seven pitchers to get through the game, with Tiger rookie Andrew Fisel suffering his first loss of the season.

BP 3 @ Le Sueur 1

Sunday, July 12

The Tigers hoped to get back on the winning track as they traveled to Le Sueur for a rare RVL afternoon battle. The game was scoreless into the fifth inning when Tyler O’ Brien reached base on a two-out double before getting knocked in by ageless veteran Pat Schultz.

The teams then traded zeros until the ninth inning, when Jared Miller came up clutch with a two out two-run single.

Curtiss took the ball and was magnificent, scattering four hits across 8 2/3 innings while not allowing a run until the ninth. Kerkow came in and shut the door on the Braves’ late rally, getting a strikeout to earn the save. Miller stayed hot with three hits and O’Brien was right on his tail with two.