The Crookston Pirate Baseball team had some solid at-bats and decent pitching, but mental and physical errors cost them in a 14-11 loss to the veteran Ada-Borup-West Cougars in the season-opening game played at the University of Minnesota Crookston Baseball Field. Crookston committed five errors, while ABW committed one.Â
FIRST INNING
ABW’s Brennan Fetting got things going with a single before stealing second base. Fetting advanced to third base on a ground out and scored on an error for a 1-0 lead. Cameron Spaeth walked and stole second base. Austin McCraven followed with a hit before stealing second base, and the Cougars had runners at the corners with one out. Ames Fassino singled to score a run, and Cannon Anderson followed with a single to right field to score a run for a 3-0 lead. The following two Cougar batters were retired.
In the bottom of the inning, Crookston’s Jay Reese led off the inning with a walk and a stolen base. Matt Contreras followed with a walk before Blake Melsa singled to right field to load the bases. Greyson Ecker reached on a fielder’s choice, and the Cougars got the out at home. Bases were still loaded for Lucas Miller, who drew a walk to score a run, and the Pirates trailed 3-1. Bases were still loaded, and Lucas Perala blasted a line drive to the right-center field gap for a stand-up triple that scored three runs, and the Pirates took a 4-3 lead. Parker Kelly reached on an error on the first baseman, and Perala scored on the play for a 5-3 lead. The following two batters struck out, and Crookston took a 5-3 lead into the second inning.
SECOND INNING
The first Cougar batter popped out to the third baseman, but Fetting followed with a single before stealing second base. The next batter grounded out for the second out of the inning. Spaeth walked, and McCraven singled to score a run. Fassino walked, and Cannon Anderson hit a line drive to right field. The ball popped out of the Pirate glove, and two runs scored on the error to take a 6-5 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Crookston was retired in 1-2-3 fashion, and ABW led 6-5.
THIRD INNING
ABW tied the game in the top of the inning when freshman catcher Luke Finney led off with a double. The next two batters were retired before Casper Kritzberger doubled to score a run to take a 7-5 lead.
Crookston started the bottom of the inning with an Ecker single. After a Pirate strikeout, Perala launched a blast with a one-hopper off the right-center field fence to score a run. Kelly walked before Carter Fee singled to right field to score another run to tie the game at 7-7.
FOURTH INNING
ABW’s first batter was retired before a pitch hit Anderson. Cadyn Dahl reached on a fielder’s choice, and Anderson was out at second base. Finney followed with a single to score a run for an 8-7 lead.
With one out, Crookston’s Ecker reached on an error and advanced to third base on the errant throw to first base. Ecker came into score on a wild pitch to tie the game at 8-8.
FIFTH INNING
ABW’s first batter struck out before Spaeth singled and McCraven walked. Crookston got out of the jam as the next two batters were retired.
Crookston’s lead-off batter in the bottom of the inning before Jay Reese walked. Reese advanced to second base on a wild pitch but thought he heard somebody yell get back, so he went back to first and was tagged out. Contreras walked, advanced to second on a passed ball, and over to third on another passed ball, but the next Pirate batter was retired, and the Pirate threat was over, and the game was tied at 8-8.
SIXTH INNING
ABW regained the lead in the sixth inning as Lance Kritzberger walked and stole second base. Fetting and Casper Kritzberger walked to load the bases. Spaeth singled to score two runs, and McCraven followed with another single to score a run for an 11-8 lead.
Crookston answered in the bottom of the inning with an Ecker walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He moved over to third on another wild pitch, and you guessed it, he scored on another wild pitch. Miller walked, Perala was intentionally walked, and Kelly walked to load the bases. Fee hit into a fielder’s choice, and the Cougars got the out at home, but the bases were still loaded. Nolan Cassavant followed with a deep fly ball to left field to score a run, and the Pirates trailed 11-10.
SEVENTH INNING
ABW’s Fassino led off with a walk, stole second base, and scored on an error for a 12-10 lead. After a strikeout, Dahl singled, Finney reached on a fielder’s choice, and Lance Kritzberger tripled to score two runs for a 14-10 lead.
The first two Crookston batters were retired before Ecker singled and scored on a passed ball to get within a 14-11 lead. Miller walked, a pitch hit Perala, and Kelly walked to load the bases. The tying run was at first base, and the winning run was at the plate when Fee hit a ground ball back to the pitcher for the final out of the game, and ABW held on for a 14-11 victory.
Crookston drops to 0-1 on the year and will travel to Red Lake Falls to take on the Red Lake County Rebels on Friday, April 12, a game you can hear on KROX Radio. Ada-Borup-West improves to 1-0 on the year.
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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R
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H
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E
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| Ada-Borup-W | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 14 | 1 |
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CROOKSTON
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5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 5 |
FOR CROOKSTON –
Lucas Perala – 2 for 2, 4 rbi, 3 walks (2 Intentional), 3 runs, 2 triples
Greyson Ecker – 2 for 3, 5 runs, walk
Blake Melsa – 1 for 5, run
Carter Fee – 1 for 5, rbi
ADA-BORUP-WEST LEADERS-
Austin McCraven – 3 for 4, 2 rbi, 2 run
Connor Spaeth – 2 for 2, 3 walks, 2 runs, 2 rbi
Brennan Fetting – 2 for 5, 3 runs, walk
Luke Finney – 2 for 5, 2 runs, rbi, double
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Pitching
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IP
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H
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R
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ER
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BB
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SO
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| Blake Melsa – Crox | 3.0 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Nolan Cassavant – Crox | 3.0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Parker Kelly – Crox | 1.0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ames Fassino – ABW | 1.0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Austin McCraven – ABW | 3.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Lance Kritzberger – ABW | 1.0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| Brennan Fetting – ABW | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
