The Red Lake County Rebels took advantage of nine free bases and hammered out 10 hits to beat the Crookston Pirate Baseball team 12-2 in six innings at L.E. Drechsel Athletics Field in Red Lake Falls.
Red Lake County gave up their first hit to an opponent in 12 and two-thirds innings and gave up their first run of the season after 14 and one-third innings.
FIRST INNING-
Red Lake County pitching hadn’t given up a hit in their first two games, and that continued as Rebel pitcher Colin Taggart retired the first two batters he faced by a strike out and a ground out. Crookston’s Gavyn Hlucny laced a single to left field for the first hit of the game and the first hit against Rebel pitching this season. Lucas Perala followed with a walk, and Crookston had runners at first and second base with two outs. The next Pirate batter popped out to first base, and the threat was over.
Red Lake County got things going in the bottom of the inning thanks to Crookston errors and control issues. The Rebels’ Will Gieseke reached on an error and moved over to third base on another Crookston error. Ben Gullingsrud walked on four pitches and stole second base and Brock Seeger walked to load the bases with nobody out. Kegan Schmitz hit a ground ball to the shortstop and was thrown out at first, but a run scored to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead. Another run scored on a wild pitch before Colin Taggart hit a line drive to deep center field that was caught, but another run scored on the sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
SECOND INNING-
Crookston started the second inning with Isaiah Donarski getting hit by a pitch. Donarski stole second base and advanced to third base on a Nolan Cassavant sacrifice bunt. The next two batters were retired.
Red Lake County’s Brock Knott started the bottom of the inning with a single and advanced to second on an error. Owen Chervestad moved Knott to third base with a sacrifice fly to center field. Riley Broden walked before Gieseke singled to score a run. Gullingsrud followed with a single to score another run for a 5-0 lead through two innings.
THIRD INNING –
With one out, Parker Kelly singled and stole second base. Gavyn Hlucny followed with a double to center field to knock in Kelly to get Crookston within a 5-1 deficit.
Red Lake County answered in the bottom of the inning when Gunnar Halvorson blasted a line drive over the right fielder’s head for a double with one out. Halvorson would score on a wild pitch for a 6-1 lead.
FOURTH INNING-
Crookston was retired in 1-2-3 fashion by Taggart.
Red Lake County broke the game open in the bottom of the inning when a pitch hit Gieseke, Gullingsrud singled and a pitch hit Seeger to load the bases with nobody out. Schmitz followed with a two-run single before a run two runs scored on two wild pitches to give the Rebels a 10-1 lead through four innings.
FIFTH INNING-
Crookston’s Conner Hanson led off the inning with a walk and a pitch hit Matt Contreras. After an out, Hlucny grounded out, but Hanson scored to bring Crookston within a 10-2 deficit.
Red Lake County didn’t score a run in the bottom of the inning and took a 10-2 lead into the sixth inning.
SIXTH INNING-
Crookston’s Donarski singled with one out but was out on a fielder’s choice, and the next batter retired.
Red Lake County got things going with one out at the bottom of the inning when Gunnar Halvorson walked. Marley Benoit singled, and a pitch hit Cain Cardinal to load the bases. Riley Broden singled to score a run, and the Rebels were one run away from winning the game. Gieseke singled to score another run to win the game 12-2 in six innings.
Crookston drops to 0-1 on the year and will travel to Fertile to take on Fertile-Beltrami on Tuesday. Red Lake County improves to 3-0 on the year and will take on Badger/Greenbush-Middle River on Tuesday.
J.V. – Red Lake County won 13-3
Jr. High – Crookston won the A game 7-2. Red Lake County won the B game 12-2
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Crookston | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Red Lake County | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 0 |
OFFENSIVE LEADERS –
Crookston –
Gavyn Hlucny – 2 for 3, 2 rbi, double, stolen base
Parker Kelly – 1 for 3, run, stolen base
Isaiah Donarski – 1 for 2, hit by pitch
Conner Hanson – 0 for 1, walk, run
Red Lake County –
Ben Gullingsrud – 2 for 3, 2 runs, rbi, stolen base
Will Gieseke – 2 for 4, 2 rbi, 2 runs, hit by pitch
Marley Benoit – 1 for 1, run
Gunnar Halverson – 1 for 2, 2 runs, hit by pitch, walk
Brock Knott – 1 for 2, run, hit by pitch
Owen Chervestad – 1 for 2
Kegan Schmitz – 1 for 3, 3 rbi, run
Riley Broden – 1 for 3, rbi, run, walk
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB/HBP | K |
| Isaiah Donarski-Crox (LP) | 1.1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Matt Contreras-Crox | 2.0 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Gavyn Hlucny-Crox | 2.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Colin Taggart-RLC (WP) | 4.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Gunnar Halvorson-RLC | 2.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
