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BEMIDJI -- The Bemidji Blue Ox baseball team enters their game with the Stark Longhorns Sunday at 11 a.m. in Faribault as Champions of Region 10C, an impressive 17-1 mark and a lineup loaded with veterans and some younger players sprinkled in.
Blue Ox manager/player Cody Rutledge said that mixture of players has led to good chemistry.
"We have some players who have been on this team for between 8-10 years and a bunch of players who are on the team for the first year," Rutledge said as his team makes their sixth appearance in the state tournament in the last eight years. "They just have intermixed well with the whole group."
Rutledge said that the strength of the Blue Ox has been the hitting.
"We have eight players who are hitting over .300 and are led by the tandem of Mitch Hendricks and Hunter Olson, who both carry over .400 batting averages."
Connor McNallan, Olson and Rutledge each have four homers also for the Blue Ox, who have 28 total homers on the year.
But Rutledge said that he has also added some mound depth.
"We have about three or four (pitchers) who have thrown most of our innings for us -- they have been really solid. Our bats have been up and down but they are coming around."
Bemidji is batting .333.
Rutledge said that the Blue Ox's ace for the last four to five years, Brenden Gielles, moved to California two weeks ago.
"So we are going to start Isaiah Biehn against Stark," Rutledge said. "In 37 innings he has a 0.76 ERA and is 4-0 threw for us in the playoffs. So we are counting on him.
"Most of our players play college baseball at BSU (Bemidji State University). Biehn pitches for BSU."
Rutledge said that the key for the game on Sunday for them as well as Stark, starts on the mound.
And he feels that having played in recent state tournaments will be huge.
"And all of these guys have been around for those years. It is a lot of experience."
Stark manager Dusty Mangen said he will start southpaw Adam Sellner against the Blue Ox Sunday.