Proctor Boys Win The Battle Of LSC Heavyweights

Wes Vork-NSO

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May 17, 2012

Wes Vork-NSO

The Proctor Rails won the battle of Lake Superior Conference heavyweights Thursday night when they defeated the Hermantown Hawks by a 7-5 score at Fichtner Memorial Field in Hermantown. Proctor overcame a 5-3 deficit with a three-run sixth inning.

In what could be a preview of a game deep in the upcoming Section 7AA playoffs, the Hawks came in ranked #2 in MN Class AA and were a perfect 16-0. Proctor came in as the reigning Section 7AA champs and although they had four losses, they could well have been undefeated also. All four of their losses were by one run in games where they had the lead late in the game.

Winning pitcher Ben Nelson (4-2, 1.92 ERA) tossed his sixth complete game in six starts. He allowed three earned runs on nine hits and three walks. He had five strikeouts.

“This was a game we wanted. It feels really good to finally close out a close game and get the win against a real quality team” Nelson commented after the game. “It was also nice that I was able to get in a complete game; which will help the team because we have three games this weekend.”

Proctor took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Jimmy Merling walked, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jesse Scanlon, moved to third on a single by Ryan McCarthy, and scored on a wild pitch.

The Hawks answered with a run in the bottom of the first when Jared Thomas drove an 0-2 pitch into the gap for a double and scored on an RBI single by Kevin Folman.

Proctor went ahead 2-1 in the second when Evan Scherber led off with a single, advanced to second on an error, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ian Scherber, and scored on an RBI groundout by Merling.

The Rails added to their lead and went up 3-1 in the third on a leadoff home run by Ryan McCarthy, his third round-tripper of the season.

Like a true heavyweight fight, Hermantown once again answered and tied the score 3-3 in its half of the third. Austin Klingsporn led off with a single and Thomas and Folman both walked with two outs to load the bases. Klingsporn and Thomas scored on a fielding error and a throwing error on the same play.

Hermantown got their first lead with two runs in the fifth. Neal Pionk walked with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI double by Thomas. Thomas reached third base on a single by Folman, and scored on an RBI single by Brian LeBlanc to put the Hawks up 5-3.

Proctor finally went ahead for good in the sixth inning. Cody Dolsen singled with one out, Evan Scherber walked, and Jack Nikko singled to load the bases. Ian Scherber walked with the bases loaded, earning an RBI and scoring courtesy runner Joe Carter. Merling then hit into an RBI fielder’s choice, scoring pinch runner Jake Malec on an errant throw. After Nikko scored on a wild pitch, Hermantown starting pitcher Folman was replaced by Lane LeGarde, who got two flyball outs to sandwich an intentional walk to McCarthy.

Proctor manufactured an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Paul Hegstrom led off with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Carter. Carter advanced to second base on an errant pick-off throw when the Rails faked a bunt, then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cody Dolsen. Carter scored on an RBI single by Evan Scherber.

Folman picked up the loss. He pitched five and one-third innings, and allowed four earned runs on five hits, four walks, and one intentional walk. He had five strikeouts.

McCarthy and Evan Scherber had two hits for Proctor. Thomas, Folman, LeBlanc, and Klingsporn had two hits apiece for Hermantown.

According to Hermantown Head Baseball Coach Mike Zagelmeyer, the Hawks were just looking to play good ball rather than worry about staying undefeated. “We approach every game the same; that whole undefeated thing was something more that other people talked about than we talked about.” Adding “We just go out and expect to and try to win every game and we’re more disappointed that we lost than we had some kind of streak broken, where other people made more of it than we did.”

After finishing as section runners-up the previous two years the Hawks have made no secret of their desire to win a section title this year. Senior captain and shortstop Jared Thomas, whose 25 game regular season win streak on the hockey team was part of the football, hockey, and baseball regular season 49 game undefeated streak, summed it up simply. “We never like to lose, nobody does, but better now than later.”

Proctor Head Coach Kyle Wojtysiak was glad to finally get a close win. “The thing we’ve seen in our four losses is if something goes wrong we tend to go flat. It was nice to see our kids bounce back and find a way to win today.” Wojtysiak also pointed out some additional benefits of the win. “It definitely helps our kids build confidence in these types of games, and from this point forward, these are the types of games we’re going to see.”

Coach Wojtysiak further explained “Winning this is kind of a double edge sword, it gives the kids confidence, but it puts a chip on their (Hermantown’s) shoulder. We’re both good ball clubs, they’re very talented with athletes one through nine and they’re well coached. We expect to play close games against them every time.”

Proctor moves to 9-4 on the season and will compete in the Hibbing “Wood Bat” Tournament on Friday and Saturday. Hermantown suffers their first loss of the season and will host Greenway in a make-up game on Friday.

The Hermantown players wore patches on their uniforms and hung the jersey of Mike Robetson in the dugout during Thursday’s game to show their support for their teammate. The senior will likely miss the rest of season after recently having surgery. The entire staff at Northland Sports Online would like to wish Mike a speedy recovery.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com