The Crookston American Legion Nels T. Wold Post 20 baseball team battled but came up short in a 7-5 loss to Breckenridge Post 53 in the first round of the Northwest Sub-state Baseball tournament in Red Lake Falls.
Breckenridge started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when Cam Nieto walked, Emit Vig singled, Brayden Wahl reached on an error to load the bases. The cleanup batter, Cooper Yaggie, showed why he is in that spot as he crushed a line drive over the fence in left-centerfield for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead.
Crookston had a threat going in the top of the third inning when Alex Longoria, Brooks Butt, and Cade Deleon singled to load the bases with two outs. The next batter grounded out to first base and the threat was over without a run.
In the bottom of the third inning, Breckenridge took advantage of two Crookston errors and scored two runs. They had a batter reach on a fielder’s choice followed by a Yaggie triple to score the fifth run of the game all scoring on a Yaggie hit. Chris Nieto reached on an error, the second of the inning, and came into score later for a 6-0 lead.
Crookston finally got on the board in the top of the fifth inning, Longoria singled with one out. Brooks Butt and Cade DeLeon followed with singles to load the bases. Ashton Larson followed with a nrbi single and after an out, Austin Trinkle doubled in two runs and the number nine batter Jackson Demarais singled in two more runs to get within a 6-5 deficit.
Breckenridge responded in the bottom of the inning when Braydon Wahl started with a single and Cooper Yaggie followed with a single of his own. After two outs, Connor Twidwell singled to score a run for a 7-5 lead.
Crookston wasn’t able to get a hit or a runner on base in the sixth and seventh inning and Breckenridge held on for the 7-5 victory.
Crookston ends the season with a 9-13 record while Breckenridge improves to 20-4 and will take on Warroad in the second round on Friday afternoon.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Crookston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 3 |
| Breckenridge | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 7 | 9 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | K | BB |
| Jacob Miller – Crox | 6.0 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Emitt Vig – Breck | 3.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Adam Ohm – Breck | 1.1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Conner Twidwell – Brec | 2.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
FOR CROOKSTON
Alex Longoria – 3 for 4, run
Jackson Demarais – 2 for 3, 2 rbi
Cade DeLeon – 2 for 3, run, walk
Brooks Butt – 2 for 4, run
FOR BRECKENRIDGE –
Cooper Yaggie – 3 for 3, 5 rbi, grand slam, triple
Braydon Wahl – 2 or 4, 3 runs
Emit Vig – 2 for 4, run
