ALBrook Baseball Bests Silver Bay 11-3

Wes Vork-NSO

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May 25

Wes Vork-NSO

SAGINAW – It has been said that good hitting and pitching wins baseball games. Judging by their 15-1 record, the AlBrook Falcons appear to have plenty of both this season. The Falcons continued their winning ways at home on Tuesday by beating the Silver Bay Mariners 11-3 on Tuesday.

After sitting down the Mariners in the top of the Ffrst, AlBrook wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Josh Johnson drew a walk, Kolten Karppinen singled to shallow center and both scored when Cody Anderson ripped a stand-up double down the left line.

After giving up a run to Silver Bay in the top of the second, AlBrook got right back to business in the bottom of the second. Patience at the plate paid off for the Falcons when they were able to load the bases with three walks. Johnson then hit a ground ball to bring in Joey Haag. An overthrow of first then allowed Tony Williams to score, giving AlBrook a 4-1 lead after two.

Silver Bay generated two more runs in the top of the third off of a walk and a hit. However, AlBrook pitcher Bryce Karppinen then got his curve ball working, and that would be all the runs the Mariners could come up with on the afternoon. AlBrook head coach Damian Paulson liked what he saw in his junior pitcher, commenting to NSO after the game, “Bryce has been working on changing the speed on his pitches. He is able to take a little off the curve and then come back with a harder ball that breaks more and keeps hitters off balance.” Keeping hitters off balance is what Karppinen did to say the least as he finished with 10 strikeouts, including striking out the entire side looking in the fifth inning.

While Bryce Karppinen was keeping the Mariners at bay, the Falcon bats began to take over with Williams blowing the game open in the third with a bases loaded triple to give the Falcons an 8-3 lead. They would also add a run in each of the next three innings to get the win by a score of 11-3.

AlBrook had seven different players get into the hit column led by Johnson’s triple and Anderson’s double, displaying their overall depth of the team. Their discipline also showed up in the box score with the Falcons drawing a total of 10 walks in six innings.

With the playoffs now on the horizon, the Falcons have themselves in a desirable spot with only one loss and one game to go. AlBrook has had a couple of four loss seasons but have never before been 15-1. “These kids have worked hard and have earned their record. They all pick up one another,” Paulson commented. “But with the playoffs starting next week, we will be back to 0 and 0.”

The Section 7A playoffs should produce some great baseball with the Falcons (15-1), Deer River (12-6) Ely (11-5), Floodwood (11-7), Cherry (10-5), and defending Section 7A champion Chisholm all competing for a section title and a trip to the state tournament.

Paulson, in his 14th year, is well aware of the stacked section. Still, he likes the chances of this group of kids. “These guys are loose. They are a cool group of kids. They all get along great from the seventh graders to the seniors and have bought into the team concept.”

NSO will have the seedings and brackets posted as they become available.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com