A back-and-forth battle between Crookston Nels T. Wold Post 20 and Stephen-Argyle Post 353 went to Stephen-Argyle as they pushed a couple runs across in the bottom of the sixth inning to win 8-6 in a game played in Argyle on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we played too sound in the first couple innings and they bit us a little bit,” said Crookston Head Coach Rob Silvers. “We kept battling at the plate and got guys on and that’s all you can ask for.”
In the first inning, Crookston did not take long to take the lead when Alex Longoria sent the first pitch of the game over the left field fence to give Crookston a 1-0 lead. “He is seeing the ball really well and that is why we moved him to the top of the order,” explained Coach Silvers.
Stephen-Argyle answered back with a three-run inning in the bottom half. A single with one out from Jackson Kekke and a single from Dawson Feuillerat and a hit-by-pitch with two outs to load the bases. A wild pitch scored one run and a throwing error allowed two more runs to score to give the Storm a 3-1 lead.
The scoring got going again in the third inning when Crookston tied the game with a couple of runs. Jacob Miller singled with one out and Alex Longoria deposited another ball over the left field fence for a two-run homer to tie the game at 3-3. “A lot of that second homer goes on me, and not on that young man’s [Woinarowicz] fault,” explained Stephen-Argyle Head Coach Jon Labine. You don’t put the same pitch down the same spot of the plate, and unfortunately for Jackson I called the wrong pitch at the wrong time. Longoria has great hands at the plate.”
Stephen-Argyle took back the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with three more runs. Brody Pietruszewski reached on an error and Will McGlynn followed with a single to start the inning. Jason Lindgren doubled to score one run, and Kekke followed that up with another RBI hit to make it 5-3. Lindgren came in to score on a throw into center field on a first-and-third steal play to make it a 6-3 game. “We were pretty good at the plate today and we are starting to hit the ball much better,” added Coach Labine. “My hope is that by July 20th we are that team that nobody really wants to play. That’s what we are striving for and that’s the goal.”
Crookston slowly whittled away at the lead by adding a run in the top of the fifth. Longoria doubled with one out to get a runner on for Post 20. He advanced to third on a groundout, and came in to score on a single off the bat of Cade Coauette.
Crookston continued the scoring in the top of the sixth with two more runs to tie the game. The first two batters were quickly retired, but Crookston had a two-out rally in them. Austin Trinkle reached on an infield single and got to second on a throwing error. He scored a couple pitches later on a single by Ashton Larson. Jacob Miller kept it going with a single of his own, and Larson scored on when Longoria reached on another Storm error to tie the game at 6-6. “Top to bottom I think everybody is pretty good at getting on base. Everybody on this team can hit,” added Coach Silvers.
Stephen-Argyle was able to bounce back quickly take back the lead in the bottom of the sixth with their own two-out rally. Kekke singled, and Mike Jacobsen hit a double to the wall to put a couple of runners in scoring position. Feuillerat followed with a clutch single to center field that took a tough hop and skipped all the way to the fence. Two runs came in to score and Feuillerat ended up at third. Still, the Storm took a 8-6 lead into the final inning.
Crookston needed at least two runs in the final inning to keep the game going. They put a threat together when Coauette walked to lead off. After two strikeouts and Crookston down to their final strike, Carter Bruggeman was hit by a pitch and Trinkle reached on an infield single. With the bases loaded, Stephen-Argyle brought in Dimitri Oberg to collect the final out and he did just that by inducing a game-ending groundout to secure the 8-6 victory for Post 353. “Jason was on a pitch count for us because he’s playing for an All-Star team for the high school this weekend so I wanted to keep him fresh,” explained Coach Labine. “So we brought Dimitri in and I told him to put the ball over the plate and that’s what he did. He is a frazzy young man that isn’t afraid of any pressure or drama.”
Crookston’s record falls to 4-2 this summer. They have two games on Thursday against Grand Forks and four more games this weekend when they host their Wood Bat Tournament. “We had a great chance to tie this ballgame up again or take the lead and we just weren’t able to finish that off,” said Coach Silvers. “It wasn’t our best defensive day. We just have to be more confident on that side of the ball.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Crookston | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 4 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | x | 8 | 9 | 3 |
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| Ashton Larson- Crookston | 2.0+ | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Brooks Butt- Crookston (LP) | 3.2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Cade Coauette- Crookston | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jackson Woinarowicz- Storm | 5.0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Jason Lindgren- Storm (WP) | 1.2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Dimitri Oberg- Storm (S) | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
FOR CROOKSTON
Alex Longoria- 3 for 4, 2 home runs, double, 3 RBI, 3 runs
Austin Trinkle- 3 for 4, double, run
Jacob Miller- 2 for 3, run
Cade Coauette and Ashton Larson- 1 hit and RBI each
FOR STEPHEN-ARGYLE
Jackson Kekke- 3 for 4, 2 runs, RBI
Mike Jacobson- 2 for 3, double, run
Dawson Feuillerat- 2 for 3, RBI, run
Will McGlynn and Jason Lindgren- 1 hit each
