sports

CROOKSTON PIRATE BASEBALL SWEEPS GREEN WAVE ON SENIOR NIGHT

May 18, 2021

The Crookston Pirates baseball team swept the East Grand Forks Green Wave 13-3 in six innings, and in the second game, they won 6-5 with a walk-off victory in two big Section 8AA games on Senior Night in Crookston.

GAME ONE –

Crookston got off to a good start with a couple of runs in the first inning to grab an early lead. Gunner Gunderson singled to lead off the inning, and after an out, Brooks Butt doubled to bring in Gunderson. Cade DeLeon singled with two outs, and an error on the play scored Butt, and the Pirates had a 2-0 lead. “You could tell from the body language before the game that they were ready to go. Everything before the game was crisp,” said Pirates Head Coach Mitch Bakken. “It was Senior Night and playing East Grand Forks, so we were hoping it would be that way.”

The Green Wave answered back with a run in the second. Finley Lizakowski singled to start the inning. A walk and hit by pitch occurred later in the inning and a run scored on a wild pitch.

Crookston added on in the fourth inning with three runs. Carter Bruggeman and Austin Trinkle walked, and George Widman reached on a wild pitch strikeout to load the bases. Gunderson came through with a two-RBI single, and Widman came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.

East Grand Forks got a couple of runs back in the fifth inning. The first two batters walked. A one-out single loaded the bases, and a two-out single from Carson Belbas brought in two runs.
The Pirates brought ten batters to the plate in the bottom of the fifth and scored five runs. A pitch hit DeLeon, and Bruggeman singled to start the inning. After the runners advanced into scoring position, Austin Trinkle singled them both in to add on for a 7-3 lead. After a strikeout, Gunderson singled, and Jacob Miller followed with a single to score Trinkle. One batter later, Butt singled to score both Gunderson and Miller to make it 10-3 after five innings. “We said somewhere around the fifth inning or so that we wanted to get six runs… we didn’t necessarily need them all at once, but we were looking for six runs to win it,” said Coach Bakken.

The Pirates held EGF scoreless in the sixth, meaning they needed three runs to win by run-rule, and they got the three runs. Bruggeman led off with a triple, and Trinkle followed with a single to score him. Another single and a fielder’s choice led to Miller ending the game with a single as the Pirates won 13-3 in game one. “It was nice to see the guys finish it off in the sixth,” added Coach Bakken.

Game 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
East Grand Forks	0	1	0	0	2	0	3	4	1
CROOKSTON	2	0	0	3	5	3	13	14	2

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
Crookston	6.0	4	3	3	3	5
East Grand Forks	5.1	14	13	12	5	6

For CROOKSTON
Gunner Gunderson- 3 for 5, 2 RBI, 3 runs
Brooks Butt- 2 for 3, double, 3 RBI, run
Jacob Miller- 2 for 5, 3 RBI, run
Carter Bruggeman- 2 for 3, triple, 3 runs
Austin Trinkle- 2 for 3, 3 RBI, 3 runs

For East Grand Forks
Carson Belbas- 1 for 3, 2 RBI
Finley Lizakowski and Max Kallock- Each had 1 hit and a run scored

GAME TWO –

Both teams went scoreless in the first two innings, and then in the third, East Grand Forks got a big inning with five runs. Tanner Nowacki led off with a single. The next batters were retired on a sacrifice bunt and pop out. The Green Wave did their damage with two outs, as Belbas and Collin Peterson singled, Max Kallock walked, Cam Kofstad doubled, and Justin Anderson singled to bring in to give EGF a 5-0 lead. “They came out and hit the ball early. They jumped on some pitches, and the wind helped some balls, but they hit the ball well,” explained Coach Bakken. “They were out-hitting us 8-1 after the first two innings, so credit to them.”

Crookston got on the board in the fourth with two runs. Butt led off by reaching on an error, and then Ethan Boll hit an inside-the-park home run to the left-center field gap to make it 5-2 after four innings. “Ethan hit a ball high to left-center, and the wind kept carrying it, and their guys couldn’t get there in time… with Ethan’s speed, he made it easily,” said Coach Bakken.

Outside of the Green Wave’s big third inning and the home run, the pitchers were outstanding in the game as there was not a run scored in any other half inning until the bottom of the seventh when the Pirates trailed by the same score of 5-2. “I thought in both games, our pitchers pitched very well. We got some good innings from them, and that allowed us to keep pitch counts and innings low today,” explained Coach Bakken. Needing three to tie and four to win, they came up with the four runs. Cade Coauette led off with a walk, and Gunderson reached on a one-out walk to put two runners on. Miller knocked in Coauette with a single to score the first run. Another run came in to score to make it 5-4 before a couple of walks loaded the bases for Ashton Larson. Larson got the big hit as he hit a double to the left-field fence to bring in two runs and give the Pirates the walk-off victory in the second game of the doubleheader. “Ashton wasn’t getting the results at the plate, and he was catching all day, so it was a long day for him. Mid-game, I told him he needed to keep his head up because we were going to need him in the seventh inning, and it worked out that way… some of the kids started laughing after he hit it because they knew I had said that to Ashton,” chuckled Coach Bakken. “He’s a great hitter, and we will need him to stay that way throughout the rest of the year.”

The Pirates improve to 7-8 this season and host Park Rapids in another Section 8AA matchup on Friday at Jim Karn Field.
East Grand Forks falls to 2-11 this year. They will travel to Warroad on Thursday.