2013 Jim Hanus Gopher Classic
Site 2 -- BSM Field

Friday, July 12
8:00 am  Osseo 9, Manitoba 1 (Game Story)
10:30 am Manitoba 18, Excelsior #2 10 (Game Story)
1:00 pm  Fargo 4, Osseo 1 (Game Story)
3:30 pm  Chester Bird 9, Grand Rapids 0 (Game Story) 
6:00 pm  Fargo 11, Chester Bird 1 (Game Story) 

Saturday, July 13
8:00 am  Grand Rapids vs. Excelsior #2, Rained Out
10:30 am Grand Rapids vs. Fargo, Rained Out
1:00 pm  Osseo 4, Excelsior #2 3 (Game Story)
3:30 pm  Chester Bird 7, Manitoba 4 (Game Stats)
6:00 pm  Osseo 6, Chester Bird 1 (Game Stats)

Sunday, July 14
8:00 am  Fargo 3, Manitoba 1 (Game Stats)
10:30 am Grand Rapids 8, Manitoba 0 (Game Stats)
1:00 pm  Excelsior #2 6, Fargo 3 (Game Stats)
3:30 pm  Grand Rapids 7, Osseo 1 (Game Stats)
6:00 pm  Chester Bird 5, Excelsior #2 4 (Game Stats)

Standings
Team          W  L  RS    IP  RA    IP
Fargo         3  1  21  25.0   9  25.0
Grand Rapids  2  1  15  15.0  10  16.0
Osseo         3  2  21  32.1  16  32.0
Chester Bird  3  2  23  28.1  25  31.0
Excelsior #2  1  3  23  26.0  30  25.1
Manitoba      1  4  24  31.0  37  28.1

2012 Stories

Heck earns Birds' MVP award from SHL

One-third of Jimmy Heck's 39 hits on the season were

doubles as he led The Birds' with a .682 slugging

percentage.

The South Hennepin League has named Jimmy Heck as Chester Bird's most valuable player for the 2012 season.

In nine SHL games this season, Heck hit .303 while leading the team with eight RBI and a . 515 slugging percentage.

In addition, he earned three of the team's four wins, going 3-1 with a 3.54 earned run average in five starts.

Those five starts covered 28 innings, during which he allowed 24 hits while walking 10 and striking out 19.

Overall, Heck led the team with a .443 batting average, 13 doubles, 26 RBI, a .490 on-base percentage and a .682 slugging percentage.

On the mound, the Minnesota-Duluth bound Heck went 3-2 in seven starts, working 40 innings while posting a 4.28 ERA.

Birds' season ends with 6-5 loss to Edina

Dan Labosky's 4-for-4 effort saw him finish the season with

a .509 batting average.

Chester Bird dropped a 6-5 decision at Edina and, coupled with St. Louis Park's 3-2 win at Bloomington Blue, The Birds' 2012 came to a close.
The Hornets scored three runs off of Chester Bird starter Jimmy Heck but it was a three-run fourth inning off of Marcus Barone that won the game for the hosts.

Barone came on to start the bottom of the fourth inning and gave up four groundball hits, including a pair of infield singles.

Edina took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first but The Birds responded with two runs in the top of the second when Matt Ambre doubled with one out and Robby Sutherland walked. Sutherland was erased on a fielder's choice groundball by Sam Lynch but an errant relay throw from shorstop Nick Leer to first base allowed Ambre to score. Dan Labosky then followed with an RBI triple but was stranded at third base.

Matt Hopfner gave Edina the lead back in the third inning with a two-run home run but Chester Bird took its second lead with a three-run fourth.

Sutherland walked with one out and, with two out, stole second base. He then scored when Labosky single and advanced to second on the throw home ahead of a Barone base hit. Heck then doubled to right-center field to drive in two runs and give The Birds a 5-3 lead.

Edina regained the lead with its three-run fourth and Mitch Larson then came on in relief of Hopfner for the fifth inning, working three scoreless innings to preserve the lead and earn a save.

Heck allowed three runs, two of which were earned, on five hits over three innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out two. Barone also gave up three runs, two earned, on four hits while walking one and fanning two in three innings.

Labosky, and Edina native, was the hitting star of the game, going 4-for-4 with a triple, two RBI and a run scored. He ended the season with an eight-game hitting streak, during which time he hit .640 (16-for-25) with four triples, three doubles and eight RBI.

After falling to the Hornets, to finish the South Hennepin League season with a 4-5 record, The Birds had to wait several hours before finding out their ultimate fate. St. Louis Park handed Bloomington Blue a 3-2 loss to finish 5-4 in SHL play and claim the sixth and final spot from the league for this weekend's District 10 playoffs.

Quinby pitches Birds to win over Armstrong

Scott Quinby earned the 5-4 win over Armstrong with a

season-high six and one-third innings of mound work.

After facing just three batters, Chester Bird pitcher Scott Quinby had already given up three runs.He would not allow another run until he had worked into the seventh inning, leading The Birds to a 5-4 win over Armstrong in a non-league game at BSM Field.

Quinby got off to an inauspcious start as he hit Jacob Edstrom with the first pitch of the game. Justus Nelson followed with a single and Brady Johnson sent a 1-1 pitch over the center field fence to give Armstrong a 3-0 lead.

From that point, Quinby would get 19 outs before leaving the game with a 5-4 lead and one out in the seventh inning.

Meanwhile, his team got him the run support he needed as Dan Labosky hit his third triple in five games to lead off the bottom of the second inning and scored on Joe Melles' ground out to second base. Jimmy Heck followed with a double but the first of three lineout double plays would end The Birds' threat.

In the second inning, Marcus Barone led off with a double but, two outs later, he was still at second base at Armstrong pitcher Mike Leonard was one pitch away from getting out of the inning on two ocassions when he hit Mikey McGill and Robby Sutherland with two-strike pitches to load the bases.

With Labosky at the plate, Nelson tried to pick off Barone at third base but the catcher's throw was wide of third base and the runners all advanced a base and, two pitches later, McGill scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.

Labosky would go on to reach first base on a walk and a double steal saw him move to second while Sutherland scored the go-ahead run.

The score remained 4-3 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Keaton Studsrud led off with a double to center field before stealing third base. McGill then followed with an RBI single to give Chester Bird a much-needed insurance run.

Armstrong rallied in the seventh when Dan Holten led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. However, Quinby got Ricky Reed to ground out to shorstop, with Holten holding at third base. Edstrom then bunted for a base hit but the bunt down the third base line once again kept Holten at third.

Edstrom stole second base before Nelson hit a slow roller to shortstop which Studsrud fielded cleanly. Holten got a late jump from third base and Studsrud looked to home before making a late throw to first, putting runners on the corners while making the score 5-4.

Labosky then came in from left field to relieve Quinby and his first pitch was in the dirt and allowed Nelson to move to second base. Johnson was then walked intentionally and Labosky promptly struck out Wyatt Engel before getting Nick Snyder to ground out to end the game.

In all, The Birds offense produced just seven hits but four were for extra bases with Barone, Heck and Studsrud each collecting a double while Labosky had a triple.

Quinby, in six and one-third innings, allowed four runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out four, to earn his first win of the season while Labosky's two-thirds of an inning of work netted him his first save of the season.

Chester Bird returns to action, Monday, with its final game of the regular season against Edina at Braemar Field beginning at 5:30 p.m. The Birds need to either win that game or have St. Louis Park lose to Bloomington Blue later that evening to earn a spot in next weekend's District 10 playoffs, which get underway Thursday at 9 a.m. at Haddox Field in Bloomington and Veterans Field in Minnetonka.

Walks costly in Chester Bird loss

Jimmy Heck had three hits, including a

go-ahead solo home run in the bottom

of the ninth inning.

Four of Hopkins' five runs came from players who had walked and Chester Bird pitchers issued 13 total walks as the Flyers scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to claim a 5-4 win in a key South Hennepin League game.

The loss prevented The Birds from securing a berth in the District 10 playoffs, July 26-30, while Hopkins all but wrapped up a spot in the tournament with the win.

Chester Bird starter Marcus Barone allowed just four hits over five innings but six walks proved to be his undoing. He walked Joey Sinderson to lead off the sixth inning and was replaced by Willie Falk, who proceeded to strikeout the first two batters he faced.

However, Sinderson stole second when pinch hitter Bennett Jasmin struck out and he scored when Andrew Glover singled up the middle to tie the score.

Hopkins took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Sinderson led off the inning with a walked, advance to third base on a pair of infield ground outs and scored on an infield hit.

The Birds responded in the top of the third when Dan Labosky reached on an error to lead off the inning and advanced to second, one out later, on Jimmy Heck's base hit. The duo then pulled off a double steal and Labosky scored on Joe Melles' ground out.

Chester Bird took its first lead of the game in the top of the fifth inning when Melles singled with one out and, with two out, Barone lofted a fly ball down the right field line, which fell in fair ground by inches for a double which drove in Melles.

Three consecutive two-out walks in the bottom of the fifth, followed by Joey Brettingen's base hit up the middle tied the game at 2-2. Robby Sutherland prevented the Flyers from taking a lead when he fielded Brettingen's single in center field an threw a strike to Gabe MacDonald at the plate, who tagged out Jack Cherry for the final out of the inning.

In the sixth, Sam Lynch and Labosky both reached on infield singles. A throwing error by shortstop Andy Wicklund on Labosky's hit put runners at second and third and, one out later, Heck drove Lynch with a base hit. However, like Cherry in the previous inning, Labosky was thrown out at home by Hopkins center fielder Alex Hunter for the third out.

Hopkins tied the game in the sixth again and the game carried on into extra innings.

In the eighth, The Birds had runners on first and second but failed to capitalize while Falk struck out the side in the bottom of the inning.

In the ninth, Heck led off the inning and, after fouling off three consecutive two-strike pitches, launched his second home run of the season to left-center field to give the visitors a 4-3 lead.

Erik Craemer received a one-out walk to start Hopkins' ninth-inning rally and Kyle Dalton followed with a single. After a wild pitch allowed the runners to advance a base, Brettingen was walked intentionally, for the second time on the night.

Sinderson then worked a bases-loaded walk off of Falk to tie the game and Jack Deutsch followed by swining at the first pitch he saw, which Matt Ambre was unable to field cleanly at third base and Dalton raced home with the winning run.

Barone was tagged with three runs in five innings, while four hits and six walks while striking out five. Falk, in three and one-third innings, allowed just two hits but issued seven walks while fanning six.

Chester Bird outhit Hopkins, 11-6, with Heck going 3-for-4 to lead the way. Barone and Lynch also had two hits in the loss.

The Birds are slated for a non-league game, Friday, versus Robbinsdale Armstrong at BSM Field beginning at 5:30 p.m. before concluding the regular season, Monday, with a 5 p.m. league game versus Edina at Braemar Park.

Chester Bird falls in Gopher Classic finale

Dan Labosky capped a 10-for-15 hitting

performance in the Gopher Classic by

going 4-for-4 with two doubles in the

finale.

Chester Bird took the initial lead but Eastview responded by scoring nine unanswered runs in the fourth through six innings and the Thunder claimed a 9-4 win to wrap up first place in Pool 2 and advance to elimination play in the Jim Hanus Gopher Classic.

Jimmy Heck worked three shutout innings on the mound for The Birds, who took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Dan Labosky, Keaton Studsrud and Heck hit consecutive singles to load the bases. Joe Melles followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Labosky, with Studsrud moving to third base, and Gabe MacDonald also recorded a sacrifice fly to plate Studsrud.

The Thunder came back with a five-run fourth inning, using five hits, two of which stayed in the infield and two more of which barely reached the outfield, a hit batsmen and an error to take a lead which they would not relinquish.

Eastview then added a single run in the fifth inning and three unearned runs in the sixth to put the game away.

Chester Bird rallied for two runs in the seventh inning as Sam Lynch singled with out and Labosky followed with a double. Studsrud's ground out enabled Lynch to scored and Labosky came home on Heck's double but Kevin Wobschall then got a strikeout to finish a complete-game effort to give the Thunder the win.

Labosky doubled twice and scored two runs while going 4-for-4 on the night to cap a 10-for-15 performance at the plate for the tournament, which included three doubles and two triples. Heck was 3-for-4 at the plate and finished 9-for-15 in five games during the tournament.

The Birds return to action Wednesday with an 8:15 p.m. game versus Hopkins at Big Willow Park in Minnetonka. Chester Bird, 4-3 in South Hennepin League play, needs one win to secure a berth in the District 10 tournament, which begins July 26.