sports

ETHAN BOLL HITS WALK-OFF GRAND SLAM TO GET PIRATE BASEBALL A SPLIT WITH TRF

May 24, 2022

The Crookston Pirate Baseball team lost 10-5 in game one but bounced back to win game two 5-4 on an Ethan Boll walk-off grand slam to beat the Thief River Falls Prowlers in a Section 8AA doubleheader at Jim Karn Field in Crookston.

GAME ONE

After a scoreless first inning, Thief River Falls hit the ball hard and scored three runs on four hits, and took a 3-0 lead. Crookston wasn’t able to score in the bottom of the second inning.

Thief River Falls added two more runs for a 5-0 lead. Both runs were unearned after an error early in the inning. “That wasn’t a good start for us,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “We didn’t have a lot of confidence at that point and we knew we needed some runs.”
Crookston got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the inning when Jack Doda hit a line drive over the centerfielder’s head for a double. George Widman had a sacrifice bunt to advance Doda to third base. Alex Longoria hit a blast over the centerfielder’s head that one-hopped the fence, and he slid into third base for a triple, and Crookston trailed 5-1. Ethan Boll followed with a line drive up the middle to score another run, and Crookston trailed 5-2. Crookston had runners at the corners with two outs, and they were caught stealing at second base for the third out of the inning. “That was huge to get two runs and get some of that confidence back,” said Coach Butt. “We had some great at-bats and that was big.”

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Crookston’s bats remained hot as Cade DeLeon hit a double into the left-centerfield gap to get things started. Austin Trinkle followed with a towering blast down the left-field line for a double, and runners were at second and third base with nobody out. Ashton Larson loaded the bases with a walk. Jackson Demarais singled to score a run, and the bases were still loaded. Doda was hit by a pitch to score another run to bring Crookston within a 5-4 deficit. After a strikeout, Longoria hit into a fielder’s choice to score another run, and the Pirates tied the game at 5-5. “The first two at-bats really got us going,” said Coach Butt. “They were great at-bats and it was big for us to tie it up.”

In the top of the sixth inning, Thief River Falls took advantage of Pirate control problems after three walks and one hit to score a run, and another run scored on a wild pitch as the Prowlers took a 7-5 lead.

Thief River Falls opened up the game in the top of the seventh inning as the Pirate pitchers struggled to find the strike zone once again and the Prowlers took advantage of three walks, one hit batter, and two singles to score three runs and a 10-5 lead. “Thief River Falls started hitting the ball and Brooks ran out of gas at the end there,” said Coach Butt. “
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Crookston had two hits but didn’t score as Thief River Falls held on for a 10-5 victory. “It was a tough loss,” said Coach Butt. “We battled in the game, but just ran out of gas.”

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
TRF	0	3	2	0	0	2	3	10	12	0
Crookston	0	0	2	3	0	0	0	5	10	2

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
Brooks Butt – Crox	5.1	9	6	4	4	3
Jack Doda – Crox	0.2	3	3	3	4	1
Justin Lindgren – Crox	1.0	0	1	1	2	0
Morgan Rude – TRF	6.0	8	5	5	5	4
Ridge Fisher – TRF	1.0	22	0	0	0	0

For Crookston –
Cade DeLeon – 2 for 4, run, double
Jack Doda – 1 for 2, run, rbi, HBP

For TRF –
Cooper Lawrence – 3 for 5, 3 rbi, run
Jacob Zavoral – 2 for 3, 3 rbi, 2 runs
Kennett Kezar – 2 for 4, rbi, run, walk

GAME TWO

After two and half scoreless innings, Crookston scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third. Austin Trinkle singled and advanced on a Gunner Gunderson sacrifice bunt and came into score on a George Widman double for a 1-0 lead. “Austin got us going with a big single, and Gunner (Gunderson) had a nice sacrifice bunt to move him over and George had a big hit,” said Coach Butt.

Thief River Falls countered with a run in the top of the fourth inning. The Prowlers started with a single. The next batter reached on an error and a run scored on a single to tie the game at 1-1.

Neither team scored in the fifth inning, forcing extra innings. In the top of the sixth inning, Thief River Falls’ Cody Wienen singled, and after the next two batters were retired, Jake Zavoral singled in a run for a 2-1 lead. Jack Rosendahl reached on an error before Colin Bruggeman singled in two runs for a 4-1 lead. “Alex was throwing well, it was just that Thief River Falls started hitting the ball once again,” said Coach Butt.
Things didn’t look good for Crookston going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but the ominous outlook changed quickly. Jackson Demarais and George Widman led off with walks. “Both at-bats were great and really got us some confidence back and everything started to fall into place,” said Coach Butt. Alex Longoria hit a fly fall to the right side of the infield, and the ball was dropped and everybody was safe with bases were loaded. “For him to drop the ball on a tough play was great for us, obviously,” said Coach Butt. “I could tell in the dugout that the kids were fired up.” Ethan Boll stepped up to the plate, and on the first pitch, he blasted an inside pitch down the right-field line and cleared the 310 sign in right field for a walk-off grand slam to give the Pirates a 5-4 victory to earn the important split. “Ethan was supposed to take the first pitch,” said a laughing Coach Butt. “I told him he was okay and obviously that was a big home run and he really crushed it. To win the game the way we did was great.”

Crookston is now 6-9 on the year after winning three of their final four games. With the split, Crookston could have a home playoff game in the first round of the Section 8AA playoffs on Thursday. If Thief River Falls loses to Fergus Falls on Thursday, and Park Rapids loses both games to Menagha, it pretty much solidifies a #4 seed for the Pirates and a home playoff game. “We are excited and wherever we have to play we will play,” said Coach Butt. “We are playing pretty well right now and I like our chances of winning a playoff game or two this year.”
Thief River Falls is now 4-7 on the year and will wrap up the regular season with a game against Fergus Falls on Thursday.