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Hursh was in control throughout the 9-0 opening win for Montrose, twirling a three-hit shut-out while striking out seven Hornets along the way. Hursh issued three base on balls.

"Seth has been tightening his control and getting ahead in the counts early," Ram mentor Shayne Mishler commented. "We look to him for leadership on the mound and if he goes, we go."

Hursh's journey to victory in Game One was a smooth one as his teammates pounded out eight hits and capitalized on ten Hornet miscues. Hursh, Dan Kagey, Cody Groulx, Nathan Ply and Nick Reinhardt each singled and scored at least one run apiece.

"We cannot continue to keep giving teams extra outs. We are making our pitchers work a lot harder than they have to," lamented New Lothrop head coach Chris Good in reference to his team's season-high 10 errors in the opener. "We made too many poor decisions and we were not mentally ready to receive the ball."

Levi Dennis had one of the three Hornet hits, lacing a double.

Game Two turned into a wild-and-wooly marathon that was played under wet and sloppy conditions and finished in the dark at 8:40 PM.

"Rain, wind, clouds and darkness-it was literally the darkest game I have ever coached in," said Mishler. "The balls were wet and slimy and during the last part of the game you could hardly see them, but each team hit them. It's amazing how sometimes in the best conditions, kids will struggle to hit, and you turn out the lights and they rise to the occasion. Seth (Hursh) said that he was going to have to use echo location to hit the ball."

One player who had no trouble zeroing in on the horsehide was Montrose's Cody Groulx, who made a diving catch in the fifth inning to save two runs and flagged down another long blast to the left field gap with two outs in the top of the seventh with two Hornets on to preserve the 10-10 deadlock. Groulx followed his defensive escapades by stroking the game-winning hit in the bottom of the inning to give his team the 11-10 triumph.

"We picked off two baserunners and caught one stealing," Coach Good remarked. "We keep preaching about the importance of doing the little things and hopefully we will improve on those areas."

New Lothrop fought back from a 7-2 deficit by scoring seven times in the top of the fifth, but the Rams responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame to knot the score at 9-9. Both teams scored once in the sixth, setting up Groulx's defensive and offensive heroics in the seventh.

Groulx and Adam Campbell each rapped two hits for the winners. Campbell's two hits included a double and three RBI's.

Mike Griffin led the Hornets' nine-hit assault with three safeties and two runs scored. Dennis and Jake Bishop collected two hits apiece for New Lothrop.

Jon Hall picked up the win in relief, going the last two innings for the Rams and giving up just one unearned run during that stretch.