By John Rittenhouse
The Hills Thunder opened the 2001 amateur baseball season by dropping three straight games since Sunday, May 27.
After losing a 13-3 game to Wilmont in the home and season opener May 27, Hills was blanked 2-0 Wednesday, May 30, in Pipestone.
Hadley topped the Thunder 5-1 in Hadley Sunday.
A tight game turned into a 10-run decision when the Thunder hosted Wilmont May 27.
The game was tied at two after three innings of play, but Wilmont went on to outscore the hosts 11-1 the rest of the way to win by the 10-run rule after eight innings.
Hills' Rod Scholten drove in a run in the bottom of the second to knot the score at one, and Matt Carroll was hit by a pitch before scoring on a passed ball to tie the game at two in the second.
Wilmont led 5-2 when Carroll scored again on a passed ball after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fifth to make it a two-run difference, but the rest of the game belonged to Wilmont as the visitors scored one run in the sixth inning, two in the seventh and five in the eighth.
Chris Putnam had two of Hills' eight hits in the opener. Jared Lange took the loss on the hill after yielding six runs in five innings. Putnam was touched for seven runs in three frames.
Pipestone plated single runs in the second and third innings and made them stand up during a 2-0 home win over Hills May 30.
Hills was limited to two hits (one by Carroll and one by Cade Lange) in the game as well as committing a pair of fielding errors against the A's.
Adam Hansen went the distance on the mound in Pipestone.
The Thunder plated a run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead in Hadley Sunday, but they were blanked the rest of the way in a seven-inning tilt.
Hills gained a 1-0 lead when Jared Lange singled and scored on a passed ball in the top of the first.
The Buttermakers, however, scored single runs in the first two innings and added three more in the fourth to win by four.
Chad Rauk, who was two for three at the plate, took the pitching loss in Hadley, where Hills had five errors and was limited to four hits.
The 0-3 Thunder were scheduled to host Luverne last night. Hills hosts Wilmont and Vermillion, S.D., at 2 and 4 p.m. respectively Saturday.