Baseball: Niebuhr leads Cougars to victory

Junior Kevin Niebuhr struck out 11 in five innings for Zumbrota-Mazeppa Saturday in a 6-3 victory against Triton in Zumbrota.

Niebuhr gave up all three runs, none earned, on three hits and four walks. Niebuhr also went 1-for-2 with an RBI at the plate.

The Cougars (1-5, 0-4 HVL) scored four runs in the first three innings to build a 4-0 lead before Triton pushed all three of its runs across in the fifth inning thanks to two errors by Z-M.

Junior Austin Walstad went 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Cougars and senior Zach VanOstrand finished 1-for-1 with two RBI and three walks in the win.

The Cobras were led by Ley Ortiz, who was 2-for-2 and Colton Thompson went 1-for-4 with two RBI. Zach Otto started on the Mound for Triton and pitched four innings, giving up four runs, four hits and striking out five.

Z-M continues to strike out at a high pace, nine times Saturday, and much of that damage is coming at the bottom of the batting order. The Cougars 6-9 hitters struck out seven times.

“We’re not cutting it down too much,” Z-M head coach Chuck Ohm said. “We want to put the ball in play.”

The Cougars had six hits in the game and face Goodhue Monday in Goodhue.

Tags: sports, prep, baseball, zumbrota, mazeppa