As Jaret Baker warms up in the background, Richie Furlong takes his turn at the plate. The Viking catcher smacked a single in a game played against Two Harbors that the Vikings won. Richie was also one of three Vikings to get a hit against Moose Lake/Willow River.
Cook County High School baseball hit a rough patch during this last week, said Head Coach Arleigh Jorgenson.
On Thursday April 30, the Vikings traveled to Esko and lost a close one, 5-3. Frankie Miller took the hill and gave up nine hits, walked 2 and struck out 2. The Vikings committed four errors behind him. The Vikings had 7 hits, took four walks, and struck out four times.
Esko opened their half of the first with three consecutive hits; a single, a double, and a single. Two runs were in.
The Vikings answered in the third when Andrew Lashinski led off with a walk,
Jaret Baker and Owen Anderson singled. Travis Bradley drove in the first, Jamie Wick drove in the second with a sacrifice fly, and Richie Furlong drove in the third run with a double.
In the fourth, Esko opened with a single and a stolen base. The next hitter reached on an error giving them a first and third situation. Miller then threw to first putting their base runner in no man’s land. Wick chased him down and threw to Lashinksi at second as the runner from third broke. The throw to the plate was just a little too late and in the dirt. Both runners were safe.
The runner on second moved to third on a ground ball to Lashinski at second, and their leadoff hitter drove him in with a sacrifice fly. That was the ball game. Cook County could not score again. Esko added an insurance run in the 6th making it 5-3.
Travis Bradley was 2 for 2 at the plate and Andrew Lashinski was 1 for 1, but also walked twice leading the Vikings.
Vikings lose to South Ridge
Jorgenson said the next game for the Vikings was, hopefully, the low point of the year.
“We had a continuation of the flu bug, as well as a tough opponent,” he said.
A trip to South Ridge was made on Monday, May 4 without leadoff hitter and all-star center fielder Anderson. Leo Johnson was back after a tough bout with the flu, but had been out for several days. Bradley tried a comeback on the mound after recovering from an injured shoulder.
It began all right for the Vikings as Frankie Miller led off with a double and moved to third on Bradley’s single. Bradley then stole second and Wick drove them both in with a double.
The Vikings loaded the bases in the sixth but could only get Furlong in. Meanwhile South Ridge exploded twice during the game, scoring eight runs in the first and eight more in the third.
As Richie Furlong said, “They were hitting the ball where we weren’t and when they did hit it to us we didn’t catch it. It was one of those kind of nights.”
It was the third inning though that really finished this game for the Vikings. The score ended 18-2.
South Ridge was reasonably held to nine hits, but walked 13 times. The Vikings had nine hits, walked twice, and struck out three times. Cook County committed 7 errors. The final score was 18-2. Jorgenson said, “You might say the wheels fell off.”
Errors at Moose Lake/Willow River
After a long bus ride home, the Vikings had a chance to put the South Ridge game in the rear view mirror as they traveled to Moose Lake the next day.
Rory Bakke took the mound after a great outing against Barnum a week earlier. He gave up three hits in the first, which resulted in one run for Moose Lake.
The second inning was less successful. The first hitter led off the inning for Moose Lake with a single. An error at second followed. Two singles were next. A sacrifice fly drove in the first run, but a double drove in three. Moose Lake scored again in the fifth on a base on balls, a stolen base, and an error in center.
In the sixth, two singles and an error preceded a walk-off home run. The Vikings were unable to score. The final was 10-0.
The Vikings only managed three hits, one by Miller, another by Furlong, and the third by Lashinski. Bubba Finke walked once, but that was about it for the offense. The Vikings reached third only once.
Bakke gave up 11 hits and walked two while striking out three. There were only four errors by the Vikings, but as Jorgenson noted, “Four is too many and they were critical.
“On Thursday, Silver Bay comes to town and will try to catch us when we are down. Ely comes in on Saturday for a noon start. We believe the swoon will be short-lived,” said Jorgenson. “Our boys have played well this season and we have no reason to think that we won’t bounce back. It’s a funny game, this game of baseball, sometimes it is fun; sometimes it is not.”
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