Dylan Quaife called for a pitch on the outside corner and while he waited for the ball the umpire leaned in to see if it was a ball or a strike. After playing five solid innings and down only one run, the Vikings fell apart in the sixth inning and were ten-runned by Silver Bay in this game.
With the weather in northern Minnesota still cold and windy, the Vikings’ baseball team traveled to McGregor and Silver Bay over the last week. First stop: McGregor, on April 19 with the Vikings bringing a total of 11 players, three of which are middle school students on the varsity roster.
Many of the ball players couldn’t make the trip due to illness or other personal issues, so the Vikings resorted to starting two of the three middle
school students in the outfield alongside senior Will Petty.
With back-to-back walks to Dylan Quaife and Ben Kroska, up came Colin Everson, and Everson responded with a single to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Mike Sjogren drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, and singles by both Will Petty and Joe Borud added three more runs to the scoreboard.
During the top of the first inning the Vikings brought eight batters to the plate and scored four runs. When the bottom of the first rolled around with two outs, and 7th grader Leo Johnson playing right field, a McGregor batter hit a shallow fly ball towards Johnson. Johnson, standing at a mere 4 foot 5, charged the ball with no fear, and then after summoning his Roberto Clemente, he made a miraculous diving catch to end the inning. After reaching the dugout and getting high fives and chest bumps from his teammates, the Vikings were ready to bat again.
Will Petty missed on this pitch, but Petty has hit well for the Vikings this year and played well in the outfield. He is one of the few seniors on the team and has been a good influence on the younger players with his work ethic and good attitude.
Heading to the bottom of the 6th, the Vikings led 8-4. Dylan Quaife was still on the mound but the Vikings were starting to throw the ball around and made 2 errors in the infield. With McGregor capitalizing on the errors with timely hits, the Mercs led the game 10-8 entering the top of the 7th.
The Vikings had one more chance to score some runs, but went down 1-2-3 and the game ended 10-8.
For the second game of the week on April 21, the Vikings traveled to Silver Bay. In the top of the first inning both Ben Kroska and Kale Boomer drew walks. After stealing bases both players scored on passed balls from the catcher to score the first two runs of the game. The next few innings saw Silver Bay score 4 runs and the Vikings added 1 more run to their total
While pitching slow and methodical, Mike Sjogren led the Vikings into the bottom of the sixth inning with the team down 4-3. Then all of a sudden, the bottom fell out. Viking pitchers walked 6 batters. Outfielders missed cut-offs and misplayed fly balls. Infielders made errant throws, and Silver Bay hit the tar out of the ball. At the end of the inning Silver Bay scored 9 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning and beat the Vikings by the 10 run mercy rule.
After these rough outings for the boys, they hope to get on track next week against Esko, Two Harbors and Marshall.
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