The Crookston Reds Amateur baseball team picked up one of their biggest regular-season victories in many years when they beat the #6 ranked Bemidji Blue Ox 4-3 in a game played at Jim Karn Field in Crookston. The two teams were the District representatives at the Class C State Amateur Baseball tournament last August.
For the second straight game, Crookston scored the first run of the game when they scored a run in the first inning. Will Zimmerman led off with single, Matt Morin had a sacrifice bunt to advance Zimmerman to second. Dave Grabowski followed with a walk and Zimmerman later scored on a wild pitch to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. Bemidji tied the game in the top of the third inning when they scored on a wild pitch to even the score at 1-1. Crookston’s Zimmerman got things going in the bottom of the fifth when he was hit by a pitch and stole second before Matt Morin double to score Zimmerman for a 2-1 lead. Dave Grabowski followed with another double over the left fielders head to score Morin and the Reds took a 3-1 lead.
Bemidji led off the seventh inning with a triple and scored a run on an error to cut Crookston’s lead to one run (3-2). Bemidji added another run in the top of the ninth inning with a two out rally. They had a single, walk and single to score a run to tie the game at 3-3. Crookston was looking for late-game heroics and they had two outstanding defensive plays from the shortstop Zimmerman, who made a diving catch on a line drive and later had a backhand stop deep in the hole and a leaping grab and some pretty good footwork by first baseman Grabowski got the out. So, Zimmerman was the guy they Reds wanted and he didn’t disappoint. He drew an eight-pitch leadoff walk and after ball four was called, the Bemidji pitcher wasn’t happy with the call and was ejected from the game, forcing Bemidji to bring in a new pitcher. Morin followed with a walk and runners were at first and second with nobody out. Zimmerman advanced to third on a wild pitch and Morin later advanced to second on a defensive indifference and Bailey Schmitz hit a single to right-center field to score the winning run and the Reds pulled off the upset with a 4-3 victory, avenging a 16-1 loss to Bemidji earlier in the year. “Huge win for us, you can’t ask for a better situation. We played great defense all night and Lars was in the strike zone all night long and I felt like he couldn’t miss and got the win for us,” said Morin. “Earlier in the season we would have rolled over and quit, but now we have the confidence to get the win. When Will got on I felt we had a good chance to win the game. Will had two really nice defensive plays and if we had video of it, they would probably be on ESPN. This is a huge win for us, we are playing good ball right now and hopefully, we will continue.”
Crookston improves to 10-11 on the year.
The Crookston Reds celebrate the game-winning hit by Bailey Schmitz
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Bemidji | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Crookston | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
Lars Brevik with a pitch
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Lars Brevik – Crox | 9.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| Brenden Gillies – Bem | 8.0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
For Crookston
Will Zimmerman – 2-2, 3 runs (game winner)
Dave Grabowski – 2-3, rbi, double
Matt Morin – 1-1, rbi, run
