The Crookston Pirate Baseball team had a solid pitching performance from Brooks Butt and the offense scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Hillsboro/Central Valley Burros 4-2 in the Jim Karn Classic played in Crookston. “It was a great game,” said Pirate Coach Mitch Bakken. “We had some big hits, some good defensive plays, and outstanding pitching from Brooks Butt.”
Both pitchers put their stamp on the game early with a combined five strikeouts in the first two innings of scoreless play.
Hillsboro/Central Valley’s first two batters in the top of the third inning were retired, but back-to-back doubles by Cole Hebl and Aaron Johnson scored a run and the Burros took a 1-0 lead.
Crookston responded in the bottom of the inning when Austin Trinkle was hit by a pitch, advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Trinkle moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by George Widman and came into score on a Gunner Gunderson sacrifice fly to centerfield to tie the game at 1-1 without getting a hit. “George had a great bunt, and Gunner hit it deep enough to score the run,” said Coach Bakken. “It was nice to see the guys manufacture a run and tie it up.”
Neither team scored in the fourth inning, but Hillsboro/Central Valley scored a run in the top of the fifth inning when Hebl doubled with two outs. Johnson followed with a single to score the run for a 2-1 lead.
Crookston responded in the bottom of the inning when Ashton Larson was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a sacrifice. Widman took an outside pitch and hit it down the leftfield line for a double to score Larson and the game was tied at 2-2. “George has a nice swing from the left side,” said Coach Bakken. “He hit it about two or three feet off the line and was rewarded with a nice at bat.”
In the top of the sixth inning, Crookston pitcher, Brooks Butt only threw six pitches to get the three outs.
Crookston had a great start to the bottom of the sixth inning when Brooks Butt singled, advanced to second on an error, and moved over to third on a wild pitch. Carter Bruggeman hit a fly ball to deep leftfield to score Butt’s pinch-runner, Jaren Bailey for a 3-2 lead. “Brooks and Carter might have been a little antsy in their first at-bats taking some swings at some questionable pitches,” said Coach Bakken. “It was nice to see those two settle in and have some good at bats the rest of the game.” Cade DeLeon was hit by a pitch, Ethan Boll singled and Larson singled to score DeLeon for a 4-2 lead. The next two batters struck out and the Pirates took a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning. “Our guys did a great job with timely hits and they understood the situations and it was fun to watch,” said Coach Bakken.
In the top of the seventh inning, Butt continued his mastery of the Burro batters as he got a ground out to first base, a pop out to second base and a line drive out to centerfield while only throwing seven pitches to retire the side and give Crookston a 4-2 victory. “Brooks had a great pitching performance and had some timely strikeouts,” said Coach Bakken. “He didn’t throw many pitches and did a fantastic job for us tonight.”
Crookston improves to 3-2 on the year and will host Barnesville in the final game of the Jim Karn Classic on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Hillsboro/Central Valley drops to 4-6 on the season.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Hillsboro/CV | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | – | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Brooks Butt – Crox | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Andrew Dullum – HCV | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
For CROOKSTON
Ethan Boll – 2 for 3, triple
Ashton Larson – 1 for 2, rbi, run
Carter Bruggeman – 1 for 2, rbi
George Widman – 1 for 3, double, rbi
Brooks Butt – 1 for 3, run
For Hillsboro/Central Valley
Cole Hebl – 2 for 3, 2 runs, double
Aaron Johnson – 2 for 3, 2 rbi’s
