Proctor Gets 9-4 Road Win Over Cloquet

Chris Shevich-NSO

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May 26

Wes Vork-NSO

Wednesday’s Section 7AA mach-up between the Cloquet Lumberjacks and the Proctor Rails could well have been a preview of the upcoming section playoffs. In a seeding process that awards points based on class of your opponent, the Jacks will have the top seed and the Rails can do no worse than the three seed. Today, Proctor rode a big four-run fifth inning to a 9-4 road win.

After a scoreless first inning, it was Proctor who got on the board first in the top of the second inning. With the bases loaded, pitcher Adam Oachs was hit by a pitch, picking up a RBI for his efforts. The Rails extended their lead to 2-0 in the top of the third when Patrick Everson hit a fly ball to deep center and Jesse Scanlon scored on a tag-up from third.

Proctor nearly recorded a grand slam when on the prior play Rails first baseman Ryan McCarthy hit a ball that went foul to left. The ball cleared the fence, the road, the neighbor’s yard and, while still in the air, broke a window on a house across the street from the ballpark. McCarthy reached base in all four of his at-bats with a single, a stand up double, reaching on an error, and a walk.

Aside from some good natured ribbing about having to pay for the window, Proctor head coach Kyle Wojtysiak was happy for his sophomore first baseman telling NSO after the game, “It’s good to see him break out, he had been struggling a bit at the plate but he is a real good hitter and is real dangerous when he gets in a groove.”

Cloquet fought back and responded with two runs in the bottom of the third. Tyler Tollerud walked and then scored when Joey Singpiel hit a sharp liner to center. Singpiel later scored when August Reynolds hit a liner to the same spot in center field.

The fifth inning started for the Rails with Justin Scanlon hitting a standup double; he then scored when McCarthy singled to deep center. With two outs, Proctor rallied with two hits and a hit batter to load the bases.

Tyler Pionk then took a ball to the helmet. However, it was ruled that he didn’t make sufficient effort to get out of the way of the curve ball and was not awarded first base. After a bit of a spirited discussion, Pionk resumed his at bat and on the next pitch ripped a stand up double to clear the bases and blow the game open, giving the Rails an 8-3 lead.

The Jacks got a run in the fifth from Joey Singpiel and one in the sixth when Thomas Rogers hit a leadoff home run to left center. Yet, that was as close as they could get. Proctor added an insurance run in the top of the seventh from Pionk to win the contest by a score of 9-4.

Cloquet head coach Rick Stowell talked about the need to get a quick start after the game by commenting, “We need to start playing baseball at the first pitch, we get behind and it makes it a bit different ballgame. We spotted them a couple of runs, but the kids worked hard and got back in the game. The difference was they hit hard balls on the ground and we hit fly balls that got caught.”

Still, Stowell likes his squad’s chances in the upcoming playoffs. “We locked up the number one seed yesterday with the win over Central.” Their tough schedule should also help the Jacks come playoff time. Stowell commented, “We have played Superior twice, Duluth East, New Ulm, Hibbing and are traveling to Grand Rapids tomorrow. Those teams are as good as any in the state and should help get us ready for the playoffs.”

For the Rails it was a nice win against a quality team. “They [Cloquet] play the game the right way; they’re a good team with good pitching,” Wojtysiak mentioned.

The Rails, who finish out their schedule by hosting Hibbing on Thursday, guaranteed themselves no worse than a three seed in the 7AA playoffs with Tuesdays 4-2 win over Crosby-Ironton. Wojtysiak likes the progress his team is making. “We’re a young team but everyone is learning. It is a lot of fun being around smart baseball minds, hopefully this can continue.”

With the Jacks and Rails, along with Mora and Moose Lake-Willow River, in the south sub-section and a bunch of equally talented team in the north sub-section, the Section 7AA playoffs should be well worth the price of admission this spring.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com