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By Patrick Tepoorten
 The Rush City Tigers baseball team’s April 30 extra-innings loss to Aitkin (see: RC baseball loses see-saw heartbreaker), was bookended by home field offensive explosions against Onamia on April 29, and Pine City on May 1.
At right: Pitcher Tom Waters has been a force for the Tigers on and off the mound. He had three hits, two runs, and an RBI, and pitched three innings of shut-out ball against Onamia.
Against Onamia, on a day that 13 runs were scored on 12 hits and nine different Tigers had at least one hit, the Rush City squad upended Onamia 13 - 0 in a game that was called after five innings.
Pitchers Justin Bosman (three innings), Tom Waters (one inning), and James Fregien (one inning) combined to shut out Onamia from the mound, and did not allow a single hit during the game. The staff combined for eight strikeouts and only two walks. Bosman got the win, having pitched the first three innings.
The Rush City offense did it the old-fashioned way, just getting on base, and after a scoreless first inning chipped away at Onamia in the second. The key was a two-out, two RBI single from Dylan Truskolaski that drove in Jared Orn and Waters to get things started, and three more runs followed, giving the Tigers a 5 - 0 lead.
A relatively quiet two-run third inning was followed by another six-run explosion in the fourth inning.
The final score was 13 - 0.
Not only did Waters produce from the mound, he finished the game with three hits, two runs, and an RBI. Fregien had two hits, a run, and an RBI; and Orn had a hit, and two runs. Truskolaski and Orn each had two RBIs as well.
Against Pine City on May 1, it was again in the second inning that the Tigers got it going. Following two walks and a two-RBI single from Travis Ehrreich, Fregien hit his second pitch over the fence for a two-run homer that gave the Tigers a 4 - 1 lead.
The squad followed that inning’s performance with a seven-run third inning in which Waters hit a two-out two-RBI single, and Bosman hit a double.
Three runs in the fifth inning capped off the game, as Rush City pitcher Waters held the Dragons at bay for five innings, allowing four runs on four hits. Waters also had five strikeouts against 21 batters.
Fregien may have been able to handle Pine City all by himself. Including the early home run, he finished the game with three RBIs and three runs. Ehrreich also had a big game with two RBIs and two runs, and Bosman finished with two hits, including a double, and two RBIs.
As of May 1, the Tigers were 3 - 1 in conference play and 4 - 1 overall.
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