By Tom Schardin, Staff Writer
The Burnsville baseball team was riding a five-game winning streak heading into Lake Conference games with Apple Valley and Eastview last week.
Then the Blaze bats went ice cold.
Burnsville had no hits in a 7-0 loss to Eastview on May 5 and had just one hit in a 10-0 setback to Apple Valley on May 1.
The Blaze bounced back nicely on May 7, sweeping Bloomington Kennedy in doubleheader, winning the first game 13-4 and the nightcap 4-2.
Burnsville is 8-6 overall, 7-6 in conference standings with the conference season winding down.
The Blaze will play host to Lakeville North on Monday, May 12 at Alimagnet Field at 4:15 p.m. and take on Chaska at home on May 15 at 7 p.m. Burnsville will close out the regular season at home against Bloomington Jefferson on May 19.
Senior Zach Harazin had the only hit in the back-to-back shutout losses – a two-out double in the first inning against Apple Valley. That means the Blaze went 12 innings without a hit, combining the final five innings with Apple Valley and seven innings against Eastview.
Dan Ellefson took the loss against Eastview, hurling 4 2/3 innings and allowing nine hits and four earned runs.
Andrew Zetah was saddled with the loss against Apple Valley, allowing six earned runs in 1 2/3 innings of work.
Burnsville broke out of its hitless streak in the first inning against Kennedy with four runs. The first three batters – Tom Sherman, Evan Walker and Harazin – each had hits, along with the fifth batter, Anders Engberg.
The Blaze had 15 total hits in the game.
Sherman finished three for four with two doubles and five runs scored. Cody Aasen was three for four with three RBIs.
All the run support made a winner of Jack Lassonde, who pitched five innings and allowed six hits and four earned runs, while striking out seven. Grant Larson pitched two innings of scoreless relief.
In the second game, Engberg pitched a complete game to lift the Blaze. He scattered seven hits and allowed one earned run, while striking out nine.
Burnsville took a 4-0 lead with a three-run second inning.
Engberg finished two for three with a double, while Walker, Dahl and Craig Simonson each had RBIs.