Floodwood Wins The Battle Of Unbeatens

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April 26, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

It wasn’t just your run-of-the mill everyday type of baseball game on Thursday night when the Floodwood Polar Bears traveled to Cotton to take on South Ridge High School. Both schools were undefeated and sporting 5-0 records and a couple of pitchers who mowed down opposing batters much like a lawn mower cutting the school grass. The end result was a 3-0 win for the visiting Floodwood Polar Bears, and at least a temporary claim of the best team in Southern St. Louis County.

The Polar Bears scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Justin Hall hit a lead-off home run to start the fourth inning. The Polar Bears added one more run in the fourth inning to lead 2-0 after four innings of play; they added one more in the fifth to make the final margin of victory 3-0.

Riley Bernsdorf was the winning pitcher for the Polar Bears as he went seven complete innings. Bernsdorf allowed only five hits on the afternoon while striking out 11 Panthers. The win was the second win of the season for Bernsdorf.

Drew Janke took the loss for the Panthers Thursday afternoon as he allowed three runs, all which were earned runs. He only allowed four hits, he struck out three Floodwood batters and he walked two in the loss.

Justin Hall finished 2-3 on the afternoon, including his homerun. He scored two runs and had an RBI. Trevor Bernsdorf was 1-2 with a run scored and a RBI. The last hit for the Polar Bears was off the bat of Kyle Tamminen, who finished 1-3.

Dan Wood had two hits in the loss for the Panthers, who were entering the game Thursday afternoon unbeaten as well. The Panthers had started the season winning their first five games. The Panthers were shut-out Thursday after entering the game averaging 11 runs per game this season.

The Polar Bears improve to 6-0 on the season with the victory on Thursday. The Polar Bears will host Two Harbors on Tuesday in a Polar League match-up, before heading to Chub Lake Park on Thursday to face the Carlton Bulldogs.

The Panthers will return to action on Friday afternoon when they will host the Carlton Bulldogs as they look to rebound and get back in the win column. On Monday, the Panthers will host Ely and on Tuesday they will travel up to Cook to face Northeast Range.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com