Mount Pulaski Bruins capture Logan County Baseball Crown

[September 05, 2017]  The Mount Pulaski Bruins won the 2017 Logan County Baseball Tournament on Saturday, making them back-to-back county champs. The Bruins also won the tournament in 2016 under head coach Ryan Deibert.

On Saturday, Mount Pulaski knocked off the no. 1 seeded West Lincoln-Broadwell Wolverines 7-2 in a semifinal game, and then toppled the no. 2 seeded Chester East-Lincoln Panthers 5-1 in the championship game.

In the other semifinal game on Saturday, no. 3 seeded Carroll Catholic fell to Chester East-Lincoln 12-7.

Troy Burgard, first year head coach of the Bruins, was very proud of the team effort on Saturday. “We just played really good and our pitchers did a great job all day. They had some grinding innings where they had runners on base and we just buckled down and got out of ‘em. The pitchers did a great job today and the defense played really well behind them. We were just mentally in tune the whole game. That was really just the big difference with previous games. We were in it mentally the whole day."

"West Lincoln-Broadwell was our first game today,” Burgard continued, "and we beat them 7-2. Evan Cooper threw a really good game there. He almost went the distance but ran into the pitch count limitation. It was good to get him a win finally because he’s pitched really good for us so far. He’s had some tough opponents all season. Lane Murphy closed out the game with WLB. Lane threw a really good game the second game against Chester East-Lincoln. He started and threw 5 and 2/3 innings and then Luke Farris came in and closed it out.”

Coach Burgard noted that his team never fell behind once on Saturday and he believed that to be a big difference for the Bruins and their level of confidence.

In the championship game Saturday Mount Pulaski jumped out to a 4-0 lead over CEL, after scoring two runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the top of the third inning.

The Panthers scored their only run in the bottom of the third inning.

The Bruins added another run in the top of the fourth inning.

Griffen Turner was the starting pitcher for CEL. Turner was relieved by Jaden Klopp while Sean Raffa pitched the final two innings for CEL.

Lane Murphy was the winning pitcher for Mount Pulaski. Murphy allowed five hits and struck out eight Panthers while just giving up the one run. He allowed just two walks while working the 5 and 2/3 innings. Luke Farris closed the door on CEL by pitching the final inning and a third. Farris walked one and struck out two batters.

Semifinal Mount Pulaski vs West Lincoln-Broadwell

In the earlier semifinal game between Mount Pulaski and West Lincoln-Broadwell, the Bruins built up a 5-0 lead through five innings of work before the Wolverines got on the board.

WLB scored one run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Mount Pulaski scored two more runs in the top of the sixth inning and held a 7-1 lead as WLB went to bat in the final inning.

The Wolverines fell short, just scoring one more run and the Bruins solid play allowed them to advance to the championship game.

MPGS Bruins take home the Logan County Championship after besting Hartem (round 1), West Lincoln Broadwell (round 2) and Chester East Lincoln (championship game).

Front Row (L to R):  Gavin Smith, Jameson Lowe, Colt Selinger, Evan Cooper, Landon Smith, and Manager Carter Clark

Back Row (L to R):  Jackson Fricke, Assistant Coach Clark, Oran Kuhlman, Andrew Bailey, Ethan Payne, Lane Murphy, Lucas Kuhlman, Luke Farris, Jordan Benner, Michael Stauffer, Head Coach Burgard, and Nolan Deibert

Evan Cooper earned the win for Mount Pulaski. He pitched 6 and 2/3 innings allowing two runs on four hits. Neither run was earned. His stellar pitching performance included nine strikeouts and one walk. Cooper was relieved by Lane Murphy, who recorded the final out for Mount Pulaski.

Sam Gleason was the losing pitcher for WLB.

Mount Pulaski vs Hartsburg-Emden

Mount Pulaski had to play Hartsburg-Emden Thursday night in a play in game. The Bruins beat the Stags 11-4 in that game.

Landon Smith was the winning pitcher versus Hartem.

With a big smile on his face after a long day of baseball on Saturday, Coach Burgard said, “I was real proud of the team today. They played really well. They were on point today so it was good.”

Mount Pulaski’s season record improves to 5 wins and 6 losses.


MP vs WLB semifinal game stats

Lucas Kuhlman 1-for-2 with 2 runs scored
Jackson Fricke 1-for 3 with 2 RBIs
Nolan Deibert 1-for-3 with 2 runs scored
Andrew Bailey 1-for-3 with 1 run scored
Luke Farris 1 RBI
Lane Murphy 1 RBI
Evan Cooper 1 RBI
Landon Smith 1 run scored
Ethan Payne 1 run scored

For WLB Daulton Miller was 2-for-4 with an RBI
Langley and Lucas each had hits for WLB

MP vs CEL championship game stats

Landon Smith 1-for-3 with 1 run scored
Lucas Kuhlman 1-for-2 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored
Evan Cooper 1-for-4 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored
Gavin Smith 2-for-4
Andrew Bailey 2-for-3
Lane Murphy 1-for-3 with 1 run scored
Jackson Fricke 1 RBI

For CEL Sean Raffa was 2-for-4 with 1 run scored.  Klopp, Wurth and Meacham each had hits for CEL

[Teena Lowery]