#BiggerThanBaseball
Soeffker whirls nine-inning gem
Rund’s RBI single lifts Soeffker, Bison to extra-innings win
On a night to honor and celebrate the local heroes that have served, and who are currently serving our country, it was an incoming sophomore pitcher that demonstrated his own heroic effort on the baseball field.
Evan Soeffker battled the heat and humidity to lead the Wright County VFW Post 1901 Buffalo Bison squad to a 1-0 victory over a Delano team that shares the same VFW affiliation.
Scoreless after seven regulation innings, Soeffker pitched two additional extra-innings of shutout ball to earn the complete-game victory. The win improved his season record to 5-0, and the Bison’s overall record to 23-3.
“Evan’s just a bulldog. His effort tonight was unbelievable,” said VFW Bison Head Coach Mike Beilke. “He just battled all night long. I thought he even had some pitches in the strike zone that he didn’t get the call, but he just kept going.”
Unlike the high school and American Legion teams, pitch counts are a non-factor in the VFW league. Soeffker finished the night throwing 111 total pitches.
Soeffker credited his teammates for helping him push through.
“I’m feeling really good,” he said. “We have a really good defense behind us, and we have a good lineup running through the order. That’s pretty much all the confidence you need as a pitcher, because you know they will get the job done every single time.”
Buffalo’s offense has scored 200 runs through 26 games, but was held silent until Justin Johnson led off the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff triple. Johnson would score the winning run when Jackson Rund hit an RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Prior to Rund’s hit, Buffalo stranded the bases loaded in the fifth and stranded a runner on second in the seventh after a one out double. The Bison and Tigers each finished with five hits in the game.
“Sometimes it gets a little frustrating when we can’t score runs, but as a pitcher, you have to remember you’re doing the same thing to the other team,” Soeffker said. “Hitting is hard. It’s not an easy thing to do. They are trying their best, so as a pitcher, you can’t really get frustrated out there.”
While the win was important in trying to secure one of the top-two seeds in the upcoming post-season tournament, equally important was to win the game for the extra-large crowd, who gathered for the 2nd annual Wright County Military Appreciation Night.
The game featured the Buffalo Royalty, Queen Josephine Imes and Princesses Elizabeth Votava and Isabella Vega, who threw out the first pitch. U.S. Senator Bruce Anderson was present, as were a few veterans of the Wright County VFW Post 1901.
“It’s so cool to have them (Veterans) here. It really gives you a lot of respect for everybody who lets us play baseball every year and puts their life on the line so we can have our freedom,” Soeffker said. “It goes to show that everybody here cares about everybody else. It’s a really good community to live in here.”
Twenty and counting
Buffalo’s 22nd win of the season came in a 10-0 home victory in five innings on Wednesday, July 10 over Brainerd.
Ivan Hook pitched five shutout innings to improve to 6-0 on the mound this season. The Bison led 4-0, and scored six times in the fifth to win on the 10-run mercy rule.
Brainerd bounced back in the second game of the doubleheader with a 5-2 win in the non-league game.
Hook improved to 7-0, as Buffalo swept a pair of road games Monday at Princeton. Hook allowed one run over five innings in a 14-1 victory in five innings in game one. Conor Linz and Evan Forsyth combined for a 2-hit shutout in a 19-0 win in game two.
Adam Braun doubled twice, and was 3-5 with two runs and four RBI from the leadoff spot in the opening victory. Danny Chalupnik was 3-3 with three runs, two RBI, and two walks from the leadoff spot in game two.
The Princeton wins improved Buffalo’s league record to 10-1, and overall record to 25-3 as they get set to host a best-of-three playoffs, starting Thursday, July 18 at noon against a team to be determined. The winner of the playoffs advances to the District 6 VFW Tournament in St. Cloud.
VFW Bison 10, Brainerd 0 (5 inn.)
(Game 1)
(Wednesday, July 10 at Buffalo)
Brainerd 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 4 2
Buffalo 1 2 1 0 6 – 10 10 0
Buffalo AB R H RBI BB K
Braun 2 2 1 2 2 0
Gaughan 3 1 2 1 1 0
Forsyth 1 0 0 2 1 0
Ingram 3 0 1 1 1 1
LaPlante 2 1 0 0 2 0
Rund 4 1 2 2 0 2
Johnson 2 2 2 1 0 0
Cantin 2 2 2 0 0 0
Ev. Soeffker 2 1 0 1 1 0
Totals 21 10 10 10 8 3
2B: Gaughan, Ingram; SF: Forsyth; HBP: Johnson; SB; Forsyth, LaPlante; LOB: 6.
Pitching IP H R ER BB K NP
Hook-W 5.0 4 0 0 2 2 75
Brainerd 5, VFW Bison 2
(Game 2)
(Wednesday, July 10 at Buffalo)
Brainerd 0 2 0 3 0 – 5 9 0
Buffalo 1 0 0 0 1 – 2 4 1
Buffalo AB R H RBI BB K
Chalupnik 3 0 1 0 0 0
Hartke 2 0 0 0 1 0
Linz 2 1 0 0 1 0
Poloson 3 0 1 1 0 0
Green 2 0 0 0 0 1
Kragerud 2 0 0 0 0 0
Roberts 2 0 0 0 0 1
Hook 2 1 1 0 0 0
Cantin 1 0 1 0 1 0
Totals 19 2 4 1 3 2
E; Roberts; LOB: 5.
Pitching IP H R ER BB K NP
Forsyth-L 4.0 9 5 5 1 1 73
Hartke 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 14
VFW Bison 1, Delano 0
(Friday, July 12 at Buffalo)
Delano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 5 1
Buffalo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -- 1 5 0
Post 270 AB R H RBI BB K
Braun 2 0 0 0 2 0
Forsyth 3 0 0 0 0 0
Ingram 3 0 0 0 1 0
LaPlante 4 0 0 0 0 1
Gaughan 4 0 0 0 0 0
Johnson 3 1 1 0 1 1
Rund 4 0 2 1 0 0
Linz 3 0 1 0 0 0
Cantin 2 0 1 0 1 0
Totals 28 1 5 1 5 2
2B: Rund; 3B: Johnson; SB: Cantin, Ingram; LOB: 8.
Pitching IP H R ER BB K NP
Ev. Soeffker-W 9.0 5 0 0 4 9 111
VFW Bison 14, Princeton 1 (5 inn.)
(Game 1)
(Monday, July 15 at Princeton)
Buffalo 2 3 2 6 1 – 14 12 1
Princeton 0 0 0 1 0 – 1 4 4
Buffalo AB R H RBI BB K
Braun 5 2 3 4 0 0
Green 3 2 2 2 1 0
Ingram 2 1 0 1 2 0
- Linz 1 0 0 0 0 0
LaPlante 1 1 1 1 3 0
Gaughan 3 0 1 1 0 0
- Forsyth 1 0 0 0 0 0
Johnson 4 1 2 0 0 0
Rund 3 1 1 0 1 0
Cantin 3 3 2 1 0 0
Ev. Soeffker 0 3 0 0 3 0
Totals 26 14 12 10 10 0
2B: Braun 2, Johnson; HBP: Gaughan; SB; Braun 3, Ev. Soeffker 2, Cantin, Ingram, LaPlante; E: Cantin; LOB: 10.
Pitching IP H R ER BB K NP
Hook-W 5.0 4 1 1 0 6 64
VFW Bison 19, Princeton 0
(Game 2)
(Monday, July 15 at Princeton)
Buffalo 1 5 2 1 10 – 19 15 0
Princeton 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 1
Buffalo AB R H RBI BB K
Chalupnik 3 3 3 2 2 0
P. Brown 4 2 1 2 1 1
Forsyth 5 2 2 2 0 1
Green 4 2 2 4 1 0
Hartke 1 1 0 0 3 1
Kragerud 4 1 1 2 1 1
Linz 2 3 2 1 3 0
Poloson 4 1 2 0 1 0
Roberts 2 3 2 1 2 0
- Johnson 0 1 0 0 0 0
Totals 29 19 15 14 14 4
2B: Forsyth, Green; 3B: Forsyth; HBP: Hartke; SB; Linz, Roberts; LOB: 10.
Pitching IP H R ER BB K NP
Linz-W 2.2 0 0 0 1 4 34
Forsyth 2.1 2 0 0 0 3 22
