CROOKSTON BASEBALL SWEPT IN DOUBLEHEADER AT THIEF RIVER FALLS

The Crookston Pirates baseball team allowed too many free baserunners and stolen bases in game one as the Thief River Falls took advantage to win 13-3 in the first game of a make-up doubleheader. In game two, the Pirates took an early lead, but a late Prowlers rally gave them a 7-6 victory and a sweep of the doubleheader played in Thief River Falls.

GAME ONE – 

The Pirates were able to get two runners on with a Gunner Gunderson walk and a Brooks Butt single but were unable to score.
The Prowlers were able to pounce in the bottom of the first for four runs. The first two runners were retired and then the Pirates could not find the third out. The next three batters walked, one of them hit by a pitch. A balk scored the first walk. Then, a double off the glove of a Cade DeLeon in left field brought in two more runs. The final run came in to score on a wild pitch and the Prowlers lead 4-0 after one inning. “We did not hold them on very well and we gave them some free bases,” said Pirates Head Coach Mitch Bakken. “But, we got to work on some things.”

After a scoreless Pirates inning, Thief River Falls scored three more in the bottom of the second inning. A leadoff walk came in to score two batters later on a RBI single. A sacrifice fly to left field brought in the second run. A two-out error allowed a run to score from second on a close play at the plate but after two innings the Prowlers led 7-0.

The Pirates were able to get on the board in the third inning. Austin Trinkle doubled to the wall in to lead off for the Pirates. A groundout moved Trinkle to third and after a walk, he scored on Brooks Butt’s sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 7-1.
Thief River Falls answered with their own run in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff single got things started and back-to-back hit batters loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly scored a runner from third. That was the only run the Prowlers got in the inning as Cade Coauette got a couple of big outs to limit the damage.

The Pirates continued the scoring with another run in the fourth inning. With two outs, Ethan Boll singled and stole second base. An error on a throw kept the inning going and put runners on the corners. Austin Trinkle got his second hit in as many plate appearances to score Boll from third and make it 8-2. “Austin has had a few games lately where he’s been playing well,” said Coach Bakken. “It’s good to see and we need that.”
The Prowlers kept their scoring streak going as they added on two more insurance runs. A one-out walk got to second on a stolen base, third on a wild pitch, and scored on a second Pirate’s balk. The other run scored very similarly with a stolen base, balk, and passed ball.

In the top of the fifth the Pirates got another run to inch closer. Jacob Miller led off with a triple and it looked like he would be left stranded after two quick outs, however Cade DeLeon reached on an error and Miller scored to get one run closer at 10-3.
The Prowlers were looking to get three runs to get a run-rule victory and they were able to get them in the fifth. A leadoff single scored after a walk and an error. A stolen base put two runners in scoring position. Then, a two RBI double that hopped off the wall brought in both runs to give the Prowlers a 10 run lead and a victory in game one by a 13-3 score. “We’ve got to get the middle of our lineup going and have them drive in some runs,” said Coach Bakken. “We just have to make a few adjustments here.”

For CROOKSTON
Austin Trinkle- 2 for 2, double, RBI, run
Brooks Butt- 1 for 2, RBI
Jacob Miller- 1 for 2, run
Ethan Boll- 1 for 2, run

For Thief River Falls
Gannon Kempert- 2 for 4, 2 doubles, 4 RBI, run
Morgan Rude- 2 for 3, RBI, 3 runs
Colin Bruggeman- 1 for 1, 2 runs

GAME TWO –

The Pirates got a single from Jacob Miller in the first inning, however a double play ended the inning.
The Prowlers picked up right where they left off in game one getting an early run in game two. The lead off batter reached base on an error, stole second base, and came in to score on a single from the next hitter to take the early 1-0 lead.

The Pirates were able to answer back in the second inning with a run of their own. Ethan Boll led off with a line drive single off the hand of Gannon Kempert, the Prowlers starting pitcher which forced him to leave the game briefly. Boll got to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single from Ashton Larson to tie the game.
The Pirates put up their first zero of the day in the bottom of the second inning with Brooks Butt retiring Thief River Falls in order with a couple of looking strikeouts.

The Pirates got their first lead of the day in the third when the offense got it going with four runs in the inning. Austin Trinkle reached with a leadoff walk and got to second on a wild pickoff attempt. A walk to Gunderson and a single for Miller loaded the bases with no outs. Brooks Butt brought in a run with another sacrifice fly. Then, with two outs, another walk loaded the bases and a wild pitch scored the second run of the inning. Carter Bruggeman followed that up with a two RBI triple to on a ball that got passed the diving center fielder to give the Pirates a 5-1 lead.
Thief River Falls got a couple of runs in the third inning to cut into the Crookston lead. The first two batters were retired, but the Prowlers got three consecutive hits including a run-scoring double and single to make it a 5-3 game.

Crookston got a couple of runners into scoring position with two outs in the fourth, but were unable to score as Gannon Kempert came back into the game to pitch. “We had some one-handed swings and swung at some curveballs in the dirt… that’s not our approach,” explained Coach Bakken. “Monday we are going to get back to some tee work and get back to some fundamentals.”
The Prowlers got another run closer in their half of the fourth inning. The first hitter reached on an error and promptly stole second base. A ground ball moved the runner to third and a sacrifice fly brought him into score to make it a one run game at 5-4.

After neither team scored in the fifth inning, Thief River Falls took back the lead with three runs in the sixth. The first five hitters reached on singles, two of them were bunt singles. “We talked about our bunt coverage and we didn’t do a very good job of covering some bases there,” added Coach Bakken. “We look at that again and work on it.” The Pirates were able to cut down one of the runners at the plate on a perfect throw from Gunderson in center field. The third run of the inning scored on a first-and-third steal play where the runner at first purposely got into a rundown to allow the runner at third to score and give the Prowlers a 7-5 lead.

The Pirates needed to get at least two runs to keep the game going in the top of the seventh. Jacob Miller gave them a good start to the inning with a walk. After a flyout, Ethan Boll hit a towering fly ball to straight-away center field that landed just short of the fence for an RBI triple. “He’s been swinging a good bat… he is a guy that can get the charge going for us to get a spark,” explained Coach Bakken. Anywhere else in the ballpark and it would have been a game-tying home run. Instead, the Pirates were 90 feet away from tying the game. A flyball was hit to right field, however it was not deep enough to score Boll. “We’ve had a lot of sacrifice flies this year and guys understand that if we can drive the ball out there that’s good. I just didn’t want to end the game at the plate there,” said Coach Bakken. With two outs, the Prowlers got a looking strikeout to end the game and win 7-6 and sweep the doubleheader. “We played much better here in this game. I’m not upset with the result at all,” explained Coach Bakken.

The Crookston Pirates fall to 5-5 on the year. They get a few days off and then they will travel to Warroad for a doubleheader as they try to get back into the win column.
Thief River Falls improves to 5-4 this season. They will play Park Rapids at Bemidji State on Monday.

For CROOKSTON
Jacob Miller- 3 for 3, 2 runs
Ethan Boll- 3 for 4, triple, RBI, run
Carter Bruggeman- 2 RBI triple

For Thief River Falls
Morgan Rude- 2 for 4, RBI, run
Cody Wienen- 2 for 3, RBI
Cooper Lawrence- 2 for 3, RBI, run
Kyler Horgeshimer- 1 for 2, 2 RBI