Cloquet Misses Out On State

June 6th, 2014

Tyler Peterson-NSO

The Cloquet Lumberjacks missed out on making it a trifecta for state appearances in boys sports yesterday evening, dropping two games to the Aitkin Gobblers in the Section 7AA finals. The Lumberjacks fell 7-2 in game one and 6-4 in game two causing them to miss out on the state appearance in baseball.

In game one, Nate Weets ended up taking the loss for the Lumberjacks, pitching just 2/3rds of an inning, allowing 2 hits and 1 earned run. The offense really never took off as Gavin Takkunen went 2-3, Brandon Conklin went 2-4, and Jeff Sarkela went 1-2 with an RBI.

Nathan Ehnstrom pitched a beautiful game for the Gobblers as he pitched the complete game, only surrendering 2 runs on 8 hits while tallying 7 K’s in the win. Logan Quade went 3-4 with an RBI and Jacob Hyytinen drove in two runs on two hits for the Gobblers.

Weets, who took the loss in game one, was sent to the mound in game two. Weets took the loss after going 6.2 innings, striking out seven and allowing only one earned run on 7 hits. Nathan O’Hara held the offense for Cloquet in game two as he hit a double that drove two runs in.

Bryan Haugly got the win by going 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits while striking out two. The Aitkin offense, which scored 4 unearned runs in the 2nd innings to propel them to victory, was led by Nathan Ehnstrom who went 2-3 with two runs driven in and two stolen bases. Quade also had another big game at the plate, getting two hits that drove in two runs on the night.

Cloquet’s season ends with a 13-7 record and as Section 7AA runners-up. Aitkin, who improves to 22-4, will advance to the baseball state tournament for the first time in their schools 120 year existence.

Tyler Peterson can be contacted at tpeterson@northlandsportsonline.com