Bark River Sweeps Niagara In Legion Doubleheader

BARK RIVER---The Bark River Buccaneers beat Niagara, Wis., 10-0 and 14-4 in an American Legion Baseball doubleheader Tuesday night in Bark River.

Niagara, made up of kids from Norway and North Central High Schools, as well as from the Niagara-Florence area, came to Bark River without four starters. That included NCA left handed pitcher Hunter Riley, who was at college orientation in Marquette.

Bark River played without catcher Logan Heim, who is out of town this week.

In Game #1, Bark River scored two runs in the third inning, then added three in the fourth and five more in the fifth inning to back up the pitching of lefty Sam Hall.

Hall struck out eight, walked one, and gave up three base hits in his five innings of work.

At the plate, Mason Korhonen had a single, double, and three runs batted in, from the #8 spot in the Bark River batting order.

Duane Englund, who has one year of ball under his belt at Mott Community College in Flint, had a two-run triple and a single. His little brother Zack had two hits and four runs batted in, including the final two RBI of the game.

First baseman Cole Ray added two singles and a double in the win.

Niagara got singles from Wilson, Trey Doda, and Wyatt Riley.

Wilson took the loss on the mound for Niagara.

In Game #2, Bark River scored four runs in the first inning and had a 5-0 lead in the third before Niagara broke through for three runs against Korhonen. His teammates quickly got those four runs back in the bottom of the third, however, to build a 9-3 lead.

Niagara's Adam Faull had a rough fifth inning as he allowed five runs on four hits, along with a couple of errors.

In fact, the game ended on a dropped fly ball.

Korhonen kept up his hot hitting a two-run single and RBI double, giving him four hits and six runs batted in during the doubleheader.

Zack Englund had three more hits, giving him five for the doubleheader (and five RBI). Duane Englund was walked three times and was hit by a pitch to get a rare 0-for-0.

Kadin Mustafa had three hits and a sacrifice bunt for the Bucs.

Niagara got a double and a pair of walks from Ethan Blagic and two hits from Doda. Wyatt Riley had an RBI single as Niagara broke a three-game scoreless skid.

Ben Snyder, who took the loss on the mound, added a single in a losing effort.

Niagara will host the Escanaba Cubs Wednesday night at 5:00 CT in a game that was originally scheduled to be played in Escanaba.

Bark River will play in the Gregg Johnson Memorial Tournament in Escanaba and Gladstone this weekend.

The Bucs play four games at the tournament, including against defending state champion Gladstone at 7:00 Friday night, and against host Escanaba at 7:30 Saturday night. Those two games will be broadcast on WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600), and www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, videos from Tuesday night's games.