Frankie Miller has been a nice surprise for the Vikings on the mound. Pictured here, the young fireballer gets ready to deliver a pitch in a game played against the Carlton Bulldogs on Thursday, May 9.
Cook County played 5 good innings of baseball but couldn’t finish, giving up 8 runs in the last two innings against South Ridge in a game played at home on Tuesday, May 8.
“We played pretty good baseball considering how little we have been able to practice outside,” said Head Coach Arleigh Jorgenson.
Early on the defense was sharp. The infielders and outfielders made one solid play after another, holding South Ridge hitters at bay. Vikings’ pitcher Joe Borud had the South Ridge batters hitting grounders or pop-ups and recorded 3 strikeouts, but he faded going into the sixth inning.
“Joe was at around 100 pitches when we pulled him. We also started making some defensive mistakes the last two innings. But the loss has to be pinned on the hitters. We left too many guys on base early, and that came back to hurt us,” Jorgenson said.
The Vikings were held to three hits, one by Kale Boomer, one by Thomas Anderson and one by Charlie Lawler. Still, the Vikings were on base a lot due to walks and hit pitches. Colin Everson walked three times and most of the team was on base at least once because of a walk.
“We had guys on base, but we need Kale Boomer and Thomas Anderson and a couple of other kids to find their hitting groove,” said Jorgenson.
The Vikings scored 1 run in the first, 2 in the fifth and 4 runs in the seventh innings, taking advantage of South Ridge errors and walks. Despite the late rally, it wasn’t enough.
Bigger than the loss, said Jorgenson, was the loss of Richie Furlong who injured tendons in his leg sliding into third base. The regular season ends next Friday, May 24, and Furlong will almost certainly be out longer than that.
“We will miss Richie’s play on the field,” Jorgenson said of his catcher.
The Vikings play twice more this week, once against Mesabi East on Friday at Mesabi and then against Ely at home at noon on Saturday.
“We hope Esko will come here on Wednesday, May 22 and then we play Two Harbors in Two Harbors on Friday to end the regular season. Playoffs begin then and right now we are a low seed. But there is no quit in these kids. They rise to the challenge. We’re getting better and better and the kids have a great attitude. Can’t ask for more than that,” Jorgenson said.
Boys lose really close game
Down 2-1 going into the 6th inning, the boys’ baseball team seemed poised to beat a tough Carlton baseball team in a game played Thursday, May 9 at home.
Then the proverbial roof caved in and the Vikings were buried under an avalanche of Bulldog runs.
Carlton scored a total of 13 runs in the 6th and 7th inning to end the Vikings’ dreams of taking a win.
“We can beat that team. We will beat that team if we face them again this season,” said Coach Jorgenson.
Pitcher Kyle Gunderson threw 7 innings of 3-hit ball and recorded 5 Viking strikeouts to lead Carlton.
Colin Everson pitched 5 strong innings for the Vikings before tiring. “Colin fought as long and hard as he could, but we couldn’t leave him in there any longer,” Jorgenson said.
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