The Vikings defeated the Barnum Bombers in a dramatic seventh inning comeback on Friday, May 21. Above: Colin Everson slides into home. Everson, James Groth and Jacob Rude kept the Viking momentum going with two stolen bases each. Right: Senior Drew Holmen made the final run to capture the Viking win, 5-4.
The Cook County baseball team split a pair of games this past week to bring its overall season record to 5-10. On Tuesday May 18, the Vikings traveled to Albrook and lost in a high-scoring game, 16-12. In a great Polar League battle against the Barnum Bombers on Friday, May 21, the Vikings won in a dramatic seventh inning comeback, 5-4.
In Albrook, the Vikings started the game with senior Drew Holmen being hit by a pitch. James Groth hit a grounder to the right side of the infield that resulted in Holmen being thrown out at second. With Groth on first base, Colin Everson was walked. Both runners advanced on stolen bases to put runners on second and third with only one out. A Jacob Rude single drove in both runners for the first two runs of the game. Senior Darryl Hansen followed with a double that scored Rude. Dylan Quaife was walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Following a Viking strikeout, Clay Gruber-Schultz hit an RBI single, scoring Hansen and giving the Vikings an early 4-0 lead.
On Friday May 21st, the Barnum Bombers showed up to play without their two senior players. Barnum had their senior class trip scheduled for that day so the Bombers were a couple of men short. The Bombers entered the game tied for the same amount of wins (four) as Cook County.
Hansen took the mound for the Vikings. Hansen ran into a bit of trouble as it took 28 pitches in the first inning to retire the Falcons. Albrook took advantage of two fielding errors and a passed ball to score four runs, tying the game at 4-4.
After the Vikings first three batters were retired, the Falcons were back on the attack in the bottom of the second inning. Four Albrook hits and two more Vikings fielding errors led to four more runs as the Vikings now trailed, 8-4.
In the top of the third, Cook County scored two runs when Hansen drove in Rude with his second double of the game. Mike Sjogren hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Hansen. The Vikings now trailed by 8-6.
In the bottom of the third inning, Gruber-Schultz took the mound for the Vikings. After striking out the first hitter, two walks would turn out to be costly as an Albrook single would score both base runners. The Falcons extended their lead to10-6.
Cook County was unable to score in the fourth, but Albrook added another run in the bottom half of the inning to increase their lead to 11-6.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Gruber-Schultz and Kale Boomer both walked. Two passed balls now had runners on second and third with two outs. An RBI double by Holmen scored both runners and the Vikings now trailed 11-8. In the bottom half of the inning, an Albrook home run extend the Falcons’ lead to 12-8.
Rude scored in the top of the sixth when he was hit by a pitch and then ran home on a Dylan Quaife single. The Vikings, however, couldn’t keep the Falcons from scoring, as Albrook added four more runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a commanding 16-9 lead.
The Vikings managed to score three runs in the seventh inning, but the rally wasn’t enough as the Falcons held on to win 16-12. Rude led the Vikings with two hits, three RBIs, and four runs scored. Holmen added two hits and Hansen had two doubles for Cook County in the loss.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bombers struck first in the top of the second inning when they combined a walk, two hits, and a Viking fielding error together to score two runs.
The Vikings tied the game in the bottom of the third. Colin Everson led off the inning with a single that was followed by Kale Boomer drawing a walk. Everson advanced to third on a passed ball and Boomer was now on second. Everson scored on a passed ball while Boomer advanced to third. Aftera Viking flyout, a Groth grounder was fielded by the Bomber shortstop who gunned out Boomer at home plate. After two stolen bases, Groth scored on another passed ball and the game was tied 2-2.
Two key singles and two passed balls allowed the Bombers to score two more runs in the top of the fourth as the Vikings once again found themselves behind, 4-2.
Following a scoreless fifth inning, Cook County’s Cody Anderson drew a two-out walk. After a stolen base, Anderson moved to third base on a passed ball and then scored on another passed ball. The Vikings were unable to score again, but Cook County was now down, 4-3.
Dylan Quaife took the mound in the seventh inning and got three straight outs. The Vikings needed to score at least one run to force the game into extra innings.
Boomer led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Holmen ripped a triple to score Boomer and tie the game 4-4. Groth and Rude were walked to load the bases with no outs. Hansen popped one up to the first baseman as all three Vikings remained on base. A passed ball got by the catcher and Holmen scored the winning run.
The Vikings drew seven walks and Groth, Rude, and Everson had two stolen bases each. The story of the game was Barnum’s instability at the catcher position as the Vikings stole seven bases and took advantage of numerous passed balls, scoring four of their five runs on pitches that got past the catcher. Dylan Quaife got the win on the mound with his great performance in the seventh inning.
Cook County played in a double-header at home on Monday, May 24th against Thunder Bay after this edition went to press. It is most likely that the Vikings first playoff game will be at home this Saturday. Look in next week’s edition for all the scores and highlights.
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