Fosston held off a huge comeback by the Crookston American Legion Nels T. Wold Post 20 baseball team and scored two runs in the top of the seventh to win the game 12-10 in a Sub-district 9 Legion Baseball tournament play-in game played at Jim Karn Field in Crookston.
In the KROX pre-game show, assistant Fosston coach Ryan Hanlon said they needed to get off to an early lead and they did just that with three runs on three hits in the first inning and they added four runs on five hits in the second inning for a 7-0 lead. Crookston responded with a run in the bottom of the second inning when Brooks Butt reached on an error and scored on another error to trail 7-1.
Neither team scored in the third or fourth inning, but Fosston scored three runs in the fifth inning taking advantage of two walks, a Crookston error and a Noah Mahlen two rbi single for a 10-1 lead through the middle of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the inning, Crookston answered with two runs when Carter Bruggeman reached on an error, stole second and scored on an error. Ashton Larson walked and later scored on a Brooks Butt sacrifice fly and Crookston trailed 10-3.
Crookston finally got their first hit of the game in the sixth inning after a Brady Butt walk, Cade Coauette (who pinch-hit) laced a line drive over the head of the Fosston left fielder and it rolled to the fence to score Butt. After a ground out, Bruggeman singled to score a run, Joe Doda walked and Ashton Larson singled. Blake Fee followed with a double down the left-field line to score two runs. After a pitching change and the second out of the inning, Jade Selzler walked, Brady Butt singled and Cade Coauette followed with his second hit of the game to score the seventh run of the inning and to tie the game at 10-10!!
How would Fosston respond in the top of the seventh inning? In a big way, with a leadoff walk, a Jacob Gutterud single and a two rbi double from Tristan Gustafson for a 12-10 lead.
Crookston tried to answer in the bottom of the seventh inning with a Bruggeman walk and stolen base, but the next three batters struck out and Fosston won the game 12-10.
Crookston’s season came to an end with a 5-11-1 record. Fosston improves to 4-8 on the year and will play Roseau in the first round of the sub-district tournament on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Fosston | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 5 |
| Crookston | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 3 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Kyle Jacobson – Fos | 4.1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| Treydon Boushee – Fos | 1.0 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Evan Chalich – Fos (WP) | 1.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Joe Doda – Crox | 4.0 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 3 |
| Jacob Miller – Crox | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Brady Butt – Crox (LP) | 2.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
For Crookston-
Cade Coauette – 2-2, 2 rbi’s, run
Carter Bruggeman – 1-2, 2 runs, rbi, 4 stolen bases
Brady Butt – 1-3, run
Blake Fee – 1-4, 2 rbi’s, double, run
For Fosston –
Max Staehnke – 2-3
Tristan Gustafson – 2-4, 2 rbi’s, run
Austin Schmidt – 2-5, 2 runs, rbi
