Lumberjacks Bring Home Consolation Championship From Princeton Tourney

Apr 28, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Cloquet Lumberjacks took home the consolation championship on Saturday afternoon as the Lumberjacks knocked off the Knights of St. Michael-Albertville by a score of 12-5 to finish 2-1 in the Princeton Tournament held on Friday and Saturday in Princeton.

The Lumberjacks opened the tournament with a hard fought 5-4 loss to St. Francis on Friday. The Lumberjacks jumped out to a early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning Friday added one more run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. The Jacks saw the lead disappear as the Saints scored 3 runs in the top of the six to take a 4-3 lead.

The Lumberjacks tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning but the Saints scored one in the top of the seventh to win the game 5-4 and advance where they would face Monticello in the semi-finals. Brandon Conklin led the Lumberjacks as he finished with two of the Cloquet’s eight hits and had a run batted in.

With the loss, the Lumberjacks moved into the consolation brackets on Saturday morning where they face the Brainerd Warriors, and it was the Lumberjacks coming away with a 2-0 shutout of the Warriors behind a six hit shutout from Adam Hanson. Derek Anderson scored the Lumberjacks first run in the bottom of the first inning and Jake Schwinn added another run in the second inning.

Trent Moe had two hits in the Cloquet victory. Hanson helped his own cause as he had a RBI double in the first inning that drove Anderson, who had walked to start in inning for Cloquet. The win moved the Lumberjacks into the consolation finals where they met the Knight of St. Michael-Albertville. The Knights had defeated Princeton in consolation play on Saturday and had lost to North Branch on their first game of the tournament.

The Lumberjacks took advantage of 12hits, seven Knight errors, and four stolen bases as the Lumberjacks knocked off the Knights 12-5 to capture the consolation title Saturday afternoon. Adam Hanson was 2-5 Saturday with a double and a triple and 2 RBI’s to lead the Lumberjacks to the seven run win. Derek Anderson, Trent Moe, and Kellin Lamirande all added two hits in the Lumberjacks victory. Lamirande and Anderson each had a double in the win.

With the wins and the consolation championship’ the Lumberjacks improve to 7-3 on the season overall. The Lumberjacks will be in action again on Tuesday when the host Aitkin at Ed Mettner Field in Cloquet. On Thursday the Lumberjacks will travel to Hermantown to face the unbeaten Hawks.

Grand Rapids won the Princeton Tournament on Saturday with a 2-1 win over St. Francis, and it was North Branch knocking off Monticello to take third place.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com