The Fort Ripley Rebels’ Bryce Flanagan belted a two-run homer in the eighth inning to defeat the Nisswa Lightning 9-7 in Victory League amateur baseball action Friday, July 16.
Nisswa, which finishes the regular season 10-7 overall, was seeded No. 4 for the North/East Division playoffs and is scheduled to host the No. 5 Pierz Brewers at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 23. Other division playoffs include: No. 1 Buckman vs. No. 8 St. Mathias; No. 2 Foley vs. No. 7 Royalton; and No. 3 Fort Ripley vs. No. 6 Pierz Lakers.
Against Fort Ripley, Sam Peterson belted a solo blast in the first inning to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Rebels’ Zach Heidmann drilled his second homer of the night and drove in each of the first five runs for a 5-1 lead in the second inning.
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Kody Ruedisili hit a solo homer for Nisswa in the third inning to make it 5-2. The Lightning’s Jon Blanchette’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth and teammate Jeremiah Piepkorn’s RBI single in the fifth cut the deficit to 6-4. The Rebels made it 7-4 in the seventh, but Nisswa’s Aaron Jenkins hit a three-run homer to tie it at 7-7 in the bottom of the inning. Flanagan then homered to win the game in the eighth.
Ruedisili was the losing pitcher while Nathan Ehnstrom earned the win in relief. Ruedisili had two of the Lightning’s eight hits.
