Baseball Recap: Pine River-Backus Snaps Four-Game Streak of Losses at Home

Pine River-Backus was handed a heart-breaking two-run loss in their last matchup, but they sure didn't let that happen against McGregor on Tuesday. The Tigers put the hurt on the Mercuries with a sharp 8-1 win. The Tigers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four games by seven runs or more this season.

Jonathan Shogren was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out eight batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits (and only one walk). Pine River-Backus is 2-1 when Shogren allows one or fewer earned runs, but 3-5 otherwise. Shogren was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with two RBI and one run.

In other batting news, Koal Oberfell and Andrew Volk did most of the damage at the plate: Oberfell got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, while Volk got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two RBI. Those two RBI gave Volk a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Owen Dabill, who went 1-for-2 with two RBI.

Pine River-Backus' victory ended a four-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-6. As for McGregor, they are on a 20-game losing streak (dating back to last season) that has dropped them down to 0-6.

Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Pine River-Backus will challenge Kelliher/Northome at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Mustangs have struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 11.4 runs per game on average), something the Tigers will no doubt try to take advantage of. As for McGregor, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Braham at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.