Proctor Boys State Bound For Second Straight Year

Wes Vork-NSO

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June 7, 2012

Wes Vork-NSO

HERMANTOWN – After winning the Conference Championship in 1976, the Proctor Rails baseball team had to wait 35 years for a return to state in 2011. The wait for a third trip can be counted in days rather than years as the Rails are headed back to state for the second consecutive year after defeating the Cloquet Lumberjacks by a score of 9-2 in the Section 7AA finals in Hermantown on Thursday.

Although the Section title is just the third in the history of the program, it is the second time in the three years at the helm for Proctor Head Coach Kyle Wojtysiak. Wojtysiak explained that it is more the athletes than anything him or his coaching staff did. “It is just a quality group of kids, that’s what’s going on. They have made my job easy. We put them in the places they can be successful, but they ultimately have to make the plays; catch the ball and hit the ball.”

Jimmy Merling had a spectacular game for the Rails and got Proctor on the board first when he led off the game with a single and later scored on a single by Cody Dolsen.

Cloquet was put in a hole early when freshman starting pitcher Brandon Conklin had to leave the game after injuring himself leading off the second inning. Conklin, who appeared to come down awkwardly on first base while trying to beat out an infield hit was replaced by Adam Hanson. Hanson pitched the remainder of the game and was very effective despite having just two days rest.

“He (Hanson) was amazing; he just went out there and battled. He was a senior and a leader and he put this team on his back.” Cloquet Head Coach Rick Norrgard told Northland Sports Online after the game, adding “He was everything you wanted him to be and more”

The Jacks did answer in the top of the third with three consecutive one out singles by Derek Anderson, Kaleb Kadelbach, and Hanson. Hanson’s single to straight away center scored Anderson and a misplayed ball by the Proctor Outfield allowed an alert Kadelbach to come across and give Cloquet a 2-1 lead.

Three consecutive errors in the fourth inning led to three runs and a 5-2 lead for Proctor. Another error allowed Paul Hegstrom on base to lead off the fifth inning and Jack Nikko followed up with a walk. Things were looking up just a bit for Cloquet when Nikko was caught off first base for the first out of the inning. Just that quick however, the Rails put the game out of reach for all practical purposes when Proctor senior Ian Scherber hit his first ever varsity home run. The two run round tripper put the Rails up by a 7-2 margin.

“It was definitely a momentum booster” explained Scherber. “It was an inside fastball that I was able to turn on and hit it down the line. Fortunately it stayed fair and went long enough to go over.” Describing the feeling of hitting his first career home run in the section finals was something Scherber had trouble putting into words. “I can’t explain it, I must have hit the fence 800 times and to have it go over is just an incredible feeling.”

While the Proctor offense created some breathing room, starting pitcher Jake Lewis was keeping the Lumberjacks off balance. Lewis allowed just four hits and struck out seven in six innings of work. He did issue six walks and gave up two runs, only one of which was earned. He was replaced in the seventh inning by Ben Nelson.

“The main reason he came out was pitch count” Wojtysiak explained on his decision to replace Lewis in the final inning. “He was well over a hundred (pitches thrown); he has a bright future ahead of him and we want him ready for the state tournament. I’m not one to run my kids into the ground. He’s a competitor too, and he didn’t want to come out of that game; but he’s a great teammate and sees the big picture.”

Nelson was a bit surprised to get the call, but was ready for the challenge. “Jake finished out that sixth inning pretty darn good with three consecutive strikeouts, but Coach told me to go warm up, so I did.” After pitching complete games in all of his previous starts, including seven innings on Tuesday, the one inning as a closer was Nelson’s shortest outing of the season. “My arm felt really good, I suppose it had to happen sometime,” Nelson commented on his first trip to the mound that wasn’t a complete game.

Pinch runners Jake Malec and Joe Carter added insurance runs for Proctor in the sixth inning to create the final 9-2 score.

Cloquet did have some chances in the second inning, but two well hit balls were met by spectacular diving catches by Merling and right fielder Jack Nikko. Starting pitcher Jake Lewis explained the great defense early on was a real help to the team. “That was a big confidence boost to have the defense step up like that. It was reassuring to know that if they did hit it the defense was behind me.”

Proctor Head Coach Kyle Wojtysiak agreed with his star pitcher’s assessment of the defensive efforts. “That’s something that really makes a difference in a game like we played in tonight. Going forward in the state tournament, if we make plays like that, it’s going to boost us and it helps the offensive side also.”

Merling turned in a remarkable overall performance going 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Besides his defense, Merling’s reaction to a ball that appeared to be hit off home plate with the bases loaded helped give him another swing in his at bat. Merling converted that extra swing into a single that helped spark the three run rally in the fourth inning.

“He’s an unbelievable competitor; he expects to be on base every time.” Coach Wojtysiak explained of Merling. “He puts a lot of pressure on himself and most of the time he succeeds. He’s a fun kid to watch; when he gets on base most anything can happen.”

As far as the smart baseball plays like getting the extra at bat from the ball off the plate, Wojtysiak points to Merling and his teammate’s time and dedication to the game. “That kind of thing is well beyond what I can bring to them. That’s what the parents have taught them coming up through little league and stuff. They have played together as a group all the way up and really that’s a testament to their parents.”

Although they came up a game short of the state tournament, Cloquet’s first year head coach Rick Norrgard was very pleased with his team’s efforts and the season as a whole. “The boys made this just a wonderful, memorable experience; much better than I ever thought it could be.” Norrgard added “We played some darn good ball, you want to be playing your best ball at the end of the season and we did that. We didn’t play our best game tonight, but to get here was a heck of an accomplishment.”

After going 1-2 at the tournament last year, the Rails are looking to make some noise at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud during this year’s trip down south. Nelson mentioned that the trip will be more like a business trip. “Counting two VFW seasons, this is four straight years at state for this group of kids. Sure we want to have some fun, but we really want to get it done down there.”

Scherber agreed and pointed out the advantages to coming out of a tough section. “Last year was like a new experience; where this year we are going in more seasoned and mature. We know we played good competition all year, battling the likes of Hermantown and Cloquet. I really respect this section for getting whoever goes down there prepared. I’m really excited to go and represent the section; we have nothing to lose and nothing to prove to anyone, we’re just going to go down there and play ball and see what we can do.”

The Rails will play on Thursday June 14 at 12:30pm at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud. They will battle the 22-3 Fairmont Cardinals who captured the Section 3AA crown with a 12-4 victory over New Ulm.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com