The Sacred Heart Eagles lost to Thompson 5-2 earlier on Thursday afternoon before coming over to Crookston to beat the Pirate baseball team 14-8 at Jim Karn Field.
Sacred Heart got things going in the top of the first inning when lead-off batter Cullen Rohrich reached on an error. He stole second and third base. Parker Erickson walked, and Same Gapp was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Nick Brundin crushed a line drive, but it was right at Crookston shortstop Alex Longoria who made a leaping catch to get the out. Ethan Arnston hit a fly ball to centerfield that was caught, but it was deep enough to score a run for a 1-0 lead with two outs. Caden Reimer singled to score another run and Isaac Zavarol followed with a two rbi double to give Sacred Heart a 4-0 lead. The next Eagle batter, Isaac Telle, singled to score a run and Sacred Heart had a 5-0 lead before Crookston had an at-bat. “It wasn’t a good start. You never want to start down 5-0, that is for sure,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “It was an inning we had to forget and move on.”
In the bottom of the first inning, Crookston’s Alex Longoria walked and Brooks Butt was hit by a pitch, and runners were at first and second base with two outs. The next batter popped out, and the Pirate threat was done.
Sacred Heart didn’t score in the top of the second inning. Crookston led off the bottom of the inning with a pop fly-out. Austin Trinkle was hit by a pitch and Cade DeLeon singled. After an out, Gunner Gunderson singled to left field to score a run and the ball got by the left-fielder and DeLeon also scored to bring Crookston within a 5-2 deficit. “The fact that we were able to get a few runs was huge for us,” said Coach Butt.
Sacred Heart added more runs in the third inning when Ethan Arnston reached on an error, Reimer singled, and Isaac Zavoral was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a strikeout, David Larson walked to score a run. Rohrich followed with a sacrifice fly to rightfield and the Eagles led 7-2.
In the bottom of the third inning, Crookston responded with a big inning. Alex Longoria singled and stole second base. After a strikeout, Ethan Boll singled and Longoria scored. “Ethan hit the ball hard tonight,” said Coach Butt. “Ethan worked hard yesterday on his hitting.” Jackson Demarais followed with a hard-hit single to score Boll to bring Crookston within a 7-4 deficit. Trinkle reached on a fielder’s choice and DeLeon followed with an rbi double to bring the Pirates within a 7-5 deficit after three innings. “Cade hit the ball well and I wasn’t sure if it was going to go out, but I knew it wasn’t going to be caught,” said Coach Butt. “It was nice to see Cade hit the ball hard tonight.”
Sacred Heart responded with two runs in the top of the fourth inning without a hit. Nick Brundin was hit by a pitch and Arnston walked. They both came into score later for a 9-5 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, Sacred Heart opened up the game with four runs. With one out, Rohrich singled and stole his third base of the game. Parker Erickson singled to score a run. Sam Gapp singled in another run before stealing second base. Brundin singled and he and Gapp had a double steal. Arnston knocked in a run on a ground out to shortstop and Reimer finished the scoring with an rbi single for a 13-5 lead.
Crookston responded with a run in the bottom of the inning when Boll walked and stole second base and scored on a Demarais double to get within a 13-6 deficit. “Jackson did a really nice job at the plate for us tonight,” said Coach Butt. “He also played a great game behind the plate.”
In the sixth inning, Sacred Heart started with two walks. After a fielder’s choice to get the lead out at third base Erickson walked to load the bases. Mike Gapp courtesy ran for Larson and was at third base and tried to steal home and the Pirate pitcher was called for a balk and one run scored for a 14-6 lead.
Crookston responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning with two outs. Longoria and Butt walked. Ethan Boll doubled to score one run and Butt came into score on an error to get within a 14-8 deficit, but that is as close as Crookston would get as Sacred Heart held on for the 14-8 victory in a game that took almost three hours and seven pitchers to complete. “We played hard the entire game,” said Coach Butt. “Sacred Heart is a good team, but we had too many walks and hit batters tonight and you can’t do that against anybody, especially a team like Sacred Heart.”
Crookston drops to 0-2 on the year and will host Red Lake County at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. You can hear the game on KROX with a pre-game show at 4:00 p.m. Sacred Heart improves to 4-1 on the year and will host the Northern Freeze on Friday.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Sacred Heart | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 10 | 4 |
| Crookston | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Brooks Butt – Crox (LP) | 4.1 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| Austin Trinkle – Crox | 0.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Caden Ames – Crox | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Justin Lindgren – Crox | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Breck Bloom – SH (WP) | 3.0 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Isaac Zavarol – SH | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Landon Walker – SH | 3.0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
For CROOKSTON
Ethan Boll – 2 for 3, 2 rbi, 2 runs, 2 stolen bases
Cade DeLeon – 2 for 3, run, rbi
Jackson Demarais – 2 for 4, 2 rbi
For Sacred Heart
Caden Reimer – 3 for 4, 3 rbi, 2 runs
Sam Gapp – 2 for 4, 2 runs, rbi
