After a weekend away from action, the Upsala Blue Jays were back in action this past weekend with games on both Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday the Jays traveled to Swanville to take on the Swans in exhibition action.  Upsala would top Swanville 8-2, as Chris Ripplinger would earn the win, pitching 5 innings, while striking out 5 and allowing 2 runs.  Brandon Welinski would pitch the final 4 innings in relief.  Brock Cichon, Justin Lampert, Johnny Fuchs, and Brandon Welinski all had 2 hits for Upsala.

On Sunday the Blue Jays were back into league action as Freeport visited Varsity Field in a battle of teams with one loss a piece.  Veteran left-handers would do battle in this one, as Matt Swanson and Nate Winter would face off.  Pitching dominated this one, as both starters were very effective.  Freeport would get on the board first with a run in the 3rd on a mis play be the Upsala defense.  Upsala would tie it in the 5th on an RBI groundout by Dustin Biniek, which scored Adam Gerads who had doubled earlier in the inning.  Swanson pitched 7 strong innings for Upsala, allowing just the one run.  Winter would pitch well for Freeport and left after 6 innings of work, giving up just one run as well.  Johnny Fuchs would relieve Swanson, and Jason Berg would relieve Winter.  Things remained tied through the 7th, but in the bottom of the 8th inning the Blue Jays would break the tie.  After the first two batters were retired, Adam Gerads belted a solo homerun to left center off of the lefty Berg, putting the Jays up 2-1.  After retiring the next hitter,  Freeport would be retired in order in the 9th.  Joe Bartkowicz, Adam Gerads, and Brandon Welinski all had 2 hits for Upsala.  Lincoln Haugen had 2 of the 4 hits for Freeport.  The win moved Upsala to 7-1 in league play, while Freeport dropped to 3-2.

The Blue Jays are in action again this coming weekend with a pair of league games on the road.  On Saturday, Upsala travels to Flensburg to take on the Falcons (1-8 VL).  Upsala defeated the Falcons earlier in the year 4-3.  On Sunday, the Jays travel to St. Stephen to batte the Steves (5-3  VL).  Both games are slated for a 1:30 start.

The Upsala Blue Jays/UBA raffle is scheduled for June 22nd.  Please see a Blue Jay player or UBA member for tickets.