Left: Colin Everson (in catcher’s gear) chased the Northeast Range base runner almost all of the way back to third base before flipping the ball to Mike Sjogren who then chased the runner down and applied a nifty tag for the out. Above left: Richie Furlong takes a big swing here against Northeast Range. He walked on this play. Above right: With laser like concentration, Hunter Farley gets ready to drive a pitch into the outfield.
There’s something about a warm, sunny day with the leaves popping, the ground greening, the butterflies flitting and the birds chirping that signals baseball weather. Cook County doesn’t get a lot of those days, but fans were treated to such a day when the baseball team played topseeded Floodwood at Arleigh Jorgenson field on Thursday, May 10.
Floodwood started the scoring when Riley Bernsdorf got on base with a single. He moved to second on an error, which put his brother Trevor on first. The two Bernsdorfs scored on a single by Ross Schminsli.
After one inning it was Floodwood 2, the Vikings 0.
Floodwood scored again in the second inning. Cook County batters were shut down by Riley Bernsdorf, who threw hard and accurate. Although only a ninth grader, Bernsdorf is rumored to be a Division 1 prospect and early on he looked like it.
With two outs and two strikes on Joe Borud, he singled. Borud moved to second base on a steal, then was driven home by a single off the bat of Mike Sjogren. Sjogren was brought home by a single from Dylan Quaife and Quaife came home on a long single from Colin Everson.
All of a sudden it was 4-3 and Bernsdorf wasn’t unhittable. The bird’s chirping got prettier, the butterflies flitted more gracefully and the ground and the hillside got that much greener. There was a ballgame on and the fans were cheering in the warmth of a sun that was, like Quaife, delivering heat.
Floodwood scored again in the fourth inning and once again the Vikings were down to one strike and two outs before they rallied. Quaife drove in two run on a double and two other runners crossed the plate on two singles.
Now the Vikings were up 7-5 and no one noticed the green hillside or the birds or the butterflies or anything other than the game. Despite Floodwood’s best attempts, the Vikings held on and won 7-5 behind the dominant pitching of Quaife, who recorded 11 strikeouts, gave up two earned runs, allowed five hits and gave up two walks over seven innings against a top-rated ball club.
For the game Mike Sjogren got three hits, singling in the key third and fourth innings and also collecting a triple in the sixth inning.
Vikings win again!
Two days later the Vikings were in action on Saturday at home against Northeast Range and this time the game wasn’t even close.
The Vikings pounded the Nighthawk pitchers for 11 runs in the first three innings and won 15-3.
According to Assistant Coach T.J. Super, “A two-run double by Joe Borud, a groundout by Gunnar Anderson, a wild pitch, and an error during the first inning and an RBI single by Dylan Quaife in the first inning helped Cook County put some runs on the board early.”
For the game Quaife got three RBIs on four hits.
Mike Sjogren got the win for the Vikings. He allowed three runs over five innings, struck out six, walked one batter and gave up six hits.
The Nighthawks scored one run in the third inning but the Vikings tacked on 4 more runs of their own behind a triple by Quaife, an RBI single by Colin Everson and RBI single by Borud.
In the fourth the Vikings tacked on five more runs. Kale Boomer hit a triple and he was driven in by a groundout by Sjogren. An error, wild pitch, and an RBI single by Thomas Anderson generated several more runs for the Vikings.
For the game Colin Everson, Kale Boomer and Joe Borud went 2 for 3 at the plate. Other Vikings getting hits were Gunnar Anderson, Hunter Farley and Mike Sjogren.
South Ridge ends winning streak
Despite a strong pitching performance by Junior Kale Boomer, the Vikings were unable to keep up their winning streak and lost 3-0 to South Ridge on Monday, May 14.
South Ridge only managed two hits off of Boomer, who allowed no earned runs, struck out three and walked three in 4 1/3 innings of work.
Dan Wood pitched seven innings of shutout ball for his team. Wood gave up four hits while striking out seven Viking batters. He didn’t give up a walk during the game.
The game was even until the sixth inning when South Ridge scored three runs on a two-run single by Reid Clark.
Next up for the boys is Mesabi East at home on Friday, May 18. The game starts at 4 p.m. The regular season ends the next day with a game against the Ely Timberwolves at Ely.
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