Photo by Bruce Johnson Jacob Rude rounds the bases in a recent home game. The Vikings are top seed going into the Section 7A playoffs with a record of 15-3.
The Cook County baseball team earned the top seed in the North half of the Section 7A playoffs with its strong overall season record of 15-3. The Vikings finished their regular season last week with two road games in Two Harbors and Babbitt. Cook County lost 2-5 in Two Harbors and bounced back to destroy BEST (Babbitt- Embarrass-Soudan-Tower), 20-0.
On Tuesday, May 19, the Vikings traveled down the shore to take on the Two Harbors Agates. The Agates entered the contest with a strong 13-3 record and were tied for second place in the Polar League Conference with Cook County.
After three consecutive Viking strikeouts in the top of the first inning, senior Sammy Warren took the mound for Cook County. After a pop out, Warren got in a jam with a walk followed by a fielding error. A second consecutive fielding error allowed an Agate run to score. Two Harbors then hit a single to drive in another run. Warren then got another pop out, but walked the next batter to load the bases. A hit batter let another run score before Warren struck out the ninth batter of the inning. Two Harbors had an early 0-3 lead.
The Vikings sent six batters to the plate in the top of the second, but a pop out with the bases loaded ended the inning without a Viking score. Two Harbors added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of a fielding error and two hits to take a five run lead.
In the next three innings, the Vikings didn’t produce a single base runner. Warren settled in on the mound and didn’t allow an Agate run for the rest of the game.
Cook County started off the top of the sixth when Jacob Rude was hit by a pitch. Miles Drake then drew a walk. After a Viking strikeout, Darryl Hansen grounded out to first scoring Rude from third base. Holmen then singled to score Drake, but the Vikings’ sixth inning rally ended with them trailing by three, 2-5.
Two Harbors shut down the Vikings in the seventh to claim second place in the Polar League Conference. Of the five runs Warren allowed, only one was earned. The Vikings only managed five hits in the game.
Two days later, the Vikings traveled to Babbitt to take on BEST. BEST, which traditionally fields a very competitive baseball team, entered the game with a 1-15 record. TheVikings instantly jumped all over the young Knight team that only had one senior and two juniors on the field.
Cook County scored ten runs in the top of the first, collecting six singles, a double, and drawing five walks in the inning. The Vikings stole six bases and advanced numerous times on wild pitches, taking an early 10-0 lead. James Groth was on the mound for the Vikings. After giving up a leadoff single, Groth got three straight groundouts to get the Vikings back to the plate.
In the top of the second inning, Cody Everson hit a twoout single. Senior Wade Hoffer then hit a homerun to give the Vikings a 12-0 lead after two innings of play.
BEST was unable to score a run in the third when Groth struck two of their three hitters out. Miles Drake gave the Vikings another run in the third when Casey Everson singled. The Vikings now led 13-0 after three innings of play.
The Vikings went on to score six more runs in the fourth and another run in the fifth to win 20-0 in five innings of play. Groth got the win for Cook County, striking out five in three shutout innings. Hoffer then took the mound and didn’t allow a hit in two innings of relief work.
Warren was five for five in the game with two RBIs and two runs scored. Drake was two for two, was walked three times, and scored three runs for the Vikings. Rude also had a great game, going three for three and scoring four runs.
The Vikings finished with a 15-3 regular season record. Their first playoff game was at home versus Hill City on Wednesday, May 27 after this edition went to press. With a win, Cook County’s second game would be against the winner of the Cherry/Ely game on Thursday. Look in next week’s edition for all the scores and highlights.
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