CROOKSTON PIRATE BASEBALL WALKS/HITS 29 BATTERS IN 2 LOSSES TO EGF

The Crookston Pirate Baseball team walked or hit 29 East Grand Forks Green Wave batters as they were beat 16-3 and 15-4 in a Section 8AA doubleheader played in East Grand Forks.

GAME ONE
Crookston had a great start to the game when Gunner Gunderson led off with a bunt single and stole second base.  After a pop out to centerfield, Alex Longoria laced a line drive to the right-centerfield gap for a double that scored Gunderson for a 1-0 lead.  Longoria advanced to third base on a wild pitch and came in to score on a Brooks Butt sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. 

In the second inning, Austin Trinkle was hit by a pitch with one out.  He advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved over to third on a wild pitch.  After a strikeout, Blake Melsa walked, and the Pirates had runners on the corners with the top of the order batting.  Melsa tried to steal second, and the throw beat him, and there was a collision as Melsa didn’t try to slide.  After a brief discussion by the umpires, they decided not to kick Melsa out of the game as they said it wasn’t intentional.
East Grand Forks got on the board in the bottom of the second inning when the leadoff batter Carson Belbas was hit by a pitch.  A sacrifice bunt moved him over to second base.  Rylee Hams reached on a walk with runners at first and second and one out.  The runners advanced on a wild pitch and a run scored on a Jace Van Eps ground out to bring the Green Wave within a 2-1 deficit.

Crookston was retired in 1-2-3 fashion in the top of the third inning. 
East Grand Forks had a huge bottom of the third inning while sending 16 batters to the plate while only recording three hits in the inning.  The first three batters walked before Finley Lizakowski singled in two runs for the first Green Wave hit of the game.  Carson Belbas followed with an rbi single for a 4-2 lead.  After a strikeout for the first out of the inning, Rylee Hams walked, and Jace Van Eps singled in two more runs for a 6-2 lead. Noah Frize followed with a walk to load the bases, forcing Crookston to make a pitching change.  Drew Carpenter (batting for the second time in the inning) walked to score a run.  Caleb Schmedieberg was hit by a pitch to score a run, Tanner Nowacki walked to score a run, and Lizakowski was hit by a pitch to score a run for a 10-2 lead, forcing Crookston to make the second pitching change of the inning.  Spencer Ness came in and got the first batter to fly out to left field and a run scored.  The next batter was hit by a pitch, and Ness got the next batter to ground out, and the Green Wave led 11-1.

Crookston was retired in 1-2-3 fashion in the top of the fourth inning.  In the bottom of the inning, the Green Wave started off with a strikeout, but the next two batters walked, and after another strikeout, Nowacki doubled in two runs for a 13-1 lead.  The next batter, Evan Skari walked, Belbas was hit by a pitch and Cam Kofstad doubled in two more runs for a 15-1 lead.  The Green Wave added one more run on a wild pitch for a 16-1 lead after four innings. 

Crookston needed to score at least five runs in the top of the fifth inning to stay alive.  It started with Justin Lindgren striking out, but reaching on a wild pitch.  He stole second base and came into score on an error, but that is all the Pirates would get as East Grand Forks held on for a 16-3 victory. 

	1	2	3	4	5	R	H	E
Crookston	2	0	0	0	1	3	3	0
EGF	0	1	10	5	–	16	5	2

 

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
Alex Longoria – Crox (LP)	2.1	3	8	8	8	3
Austin Trinkle – Crox	0.0	0	2	2	4	0
Spencer Ness – Crox	1.1	2	4	4	5	2
Justin Lindgren -Crox	0.1	0	0	0	1	0
Tommy Gust – EGF (WP)	5.0	3	3	2	2	3

 

For Crookston –
Alex Longoria – 1 for 2, double, rbi
Gunner Gunderson 1 for 3, run, stolen base

For EGF –
Tanner Nowacki – 1 for 2, 3 rbi, 2 runs, 2 walks
Finley Lizakowski – 1 for 2, 3 rbi, HBP
Drew Carpenter – 0-0, 4 walks, 3 runs, rbi

 

GAME TWO

Crookston only sent three batters to the plate in the top half of the first inning.    In the bottom of the inning, East Grand Forks’s Caleb Schmiedeberg singled and stole second and third, and came into score on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead.  

In the second inning, Crookston’s Cade DeLeon walked, and Austin Trinkle reached on an error.  DeLeon and Trinkle advanced on a wild pitch and a run scored when Blake Melsa reached on an error.  Trinkle came into score on a fielder’s choice and elected not to slide, and knocked the ball out of the catcher’s glove for a 2-1 lead. Blake Melsa reached on an error, and George Widman reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed a run to score for a 3-1 lead.  Melsa scored on a wild pitch, and Crookston led 4-1.
In the bottom of the inning, East Grand Forks blew the game open with an 11-run inning while sending 17 batters to the plate.  The Green Wave only had four hits, but took advantage of seven walks/hit batters to take a 12-4 lead.  

East Grand Forks added three more runs in the bottom of the third inning with a hit batter, a walk, a single, a hit batter, another hit batter, and a fielder’s choice for a 15-4 lead.

Nobody scored the rest of the way and East Grand Forks won 15-4 in five innings.

Crookston drops to 3-8 on the year and will travel to Hawley on Thursday.  East Grand Forks improves to 9-1 on the year. 

FOR COACH BUTT’S COMMENTS CLICK HERE

	1	2	3	4	5	R	H	E
Crookston	0	4	0	0	0	4	1	4
East Grand Forks	1	11	3	0	–	15	7	3