A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Senior members of the Esko varsity baseball team have high hopes for this season, especially after starting off with a win over South Ridge. Pictured, from left, are Hubie Gonsorowski, Peyton Koskela, Dawson Hoffman, Jaustin Piepho and Mason Vinje. Not pictured is Zach Ross.
The Esko boys baseball team didn't let a lack of experience get in the way, as they started their season Monday by beating defending section 7A champion South Ridge by a score of 9-4.
"We had many new faces on this year's team and we don't have a lot of returning experience," said Eskomos head baseball coach Ben Haugen.
The teams played at the artificial turf field in Superior before inclement weather was predicted to hit the Northland this week, because both sides wanted to make sure the section 7A champion Panthers and last season's 7AA runner-ups Eskomos got to play each other.
"We knew that this was going to be a great test for us" Haugen stated. "They are a solid team with good pitching, solid defense and a great coaching staff."
Things didn't look too good for Esko as the contest kicked off with the Panthers taking a 1-0 lead after one inning of play as Logan Yung scored the game's first run.
Esko tied the game in the top of the second, but the Panthers responded in their half of the second by scoring two more runs to take a 3-1 lead after two innings of play.
The wheels fell off for South Ridge, however, after the Eskomos scored four times in the top of the fifth inning, then added one in the sixth and three more runs in the top of the seventh inning to ensure an Esko victory.
"We started well," said South Ridge Panther head coach Tyler Olin, "but you have to complete a full seven innings and play good ball against a solid team like Esko. We gave them too many chances and too many outs in the fifth inning and that cost us."
Haugen said the Eskomos had some young guys step into unfamiliar roles and do well.
"We had a nice win over a very good team," Haugen said.
Tyler Koskela, Peyton Koskela, James Legard and Mason Vinje led the Eskomos' 11-hit onslaught Monday with two hits each, while both Tyler and Peyton each scored twice in the victory.
Aaron Bennett, Logan Young and Elias Touminen also had two hits each for South Ridge in the loss, with Young collecting two runs batted in. South Ridge finished with nine hits in the loss.
Relief pitcher Noah Furcht, taking over for starting pitcher Mason Vinje, was the winning pitcher for Esko. In pitching 3.2 innings, he allowed only one run while striking out seven Panther batters.
Riley Kinsley was the losing pitcher for South Ridge, allowing eight hits and giving up six earned runs.
