The Dragons baseball team hosted East Central yesterday in a Great River Conference showdown.
Pine City got off to a hot start on defense, with Nick Plasek starting on the mound. He made all three outs in the top of the first inning two by strikeout. Now it was their turn at the plate. The Dragons were seeing the ball well as the first three batters reached base on balls. Then Nick Plasek came in clutch with a bases clearing double to put Pine City up early 3-0. But that was only the beginning. They would add 9 more runs in the 1st inning, while nearly batting through their order twice, before the Eagles grabbed the third out. It was another one, two, three inning for Pine City striking out two more and grounding out the third batter. Pine City would add 4 more runs in the 2nd inning stretching their lead to 16. Unfortunately, the Eagles couldn't get past any of the four Dragon pitchers they faced. Which quickly lead to the Dragons getting back to the plate with the hot bats. Pine City added 10 more runs in the third period. The 4th inning was much of the same for the Eagles not finding any way on base. The fourth inning saw Pine City add three more runs going into what would be the 5th and final inning. The Dragons at this point had a combined no hitter going and look to complete it. But the Eagles Dylan Lundberg hit a slow roller back up the middle and none of the Dragons could reach it in time and Lundberg reached base and broke up the no hitter. A big confidence boost much needed. Sadly, the one hit didn't lead to more and the Eagles were quickly retired to end the game giving Pine City a 29-0 victory.
The Dragons are now 6-1 on the season and remain unbeaten in conference play. They also sit a third in the section.
Although it was a rough outing for East Central, they showed their resilience and toughness and their willingness to battle through. That type of mentality will prove big as the season goes along and as we quickly approach post season play.
