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
Cloquet's Dalton Botilla slides in to home plate as Moose Lake catcher Blake Juhl jumps for a high-thrown ball during Friday afternoon's matchup between the Lumberjacks and the Rebels in Cloquet.
Leading off a little too far, Moose Lake's Danny Whited scrambles to get back to first base before the ball can get to first baseman Elijah Halli.
Cloq's Alec Turnbull goes to work on the mound, pitching during Friday afternoon's matchup between the Lumberjacks and the Rebels in Cloquet.
Early in April it looked like Mother Nature was going to provide the kind of spring we have not seen for a while, where Northland sports teams could play a full and normal schedule. As we all know, Mother Nature didn't cooperate with the hopes of local sports teams - the Cloquet baseball team has been no exception.
With seven games either postponed or canceled thus far this season, the Lumberjacks were able to get in two games without canceling or rescheduling.
Last Friday the 'Jacks were at home against Moose Lake-Willow River, and Cloquet came away with an 8-4 victory. Following weather postponements on both Saturday and Monday, the Lumberjacks traveled to West Duluth Tuesday evening to take on Duluth Marshall - the Class AA state runner up from last year - and the Lumberjacks lost by a score of 10-0.
Cloquet started the scoring opportunities against the Rebels Friday with a leadoff single from Jon Baker in the bottom of the first inning. He moved to third on a Nick Baker double, and three batters later he scored the first run on a MLWR error with two out.
A walk, two hit batters and a sacrifice fly allowed Zac Tyman to score Cloquet's second run in the second inning; two more runs on a Noah Neimi double extended the lead to 4-0. Cloquet added one more run in the second when Neimi scored on another Rebel error.
Tyman and Dalton Bottila both scored in the third inning to put Cloquet in front 7-0 after three innings of play. The Rebels cut into the Cloquet's lead in the top of the fifth inning, when three hits and a 'Jacks error cut the lead to 7-4 after a Blake Juhl triple brought in three of the four runs.
Cloquet added one insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Nick Baker scored following a one-out triple he scored on a base hit from Neimi to make the final margin 8-4.
Freshman Jack Sorenson got the win for Cloquet, pitching four solid innings and allowing just two hits and striking out five Rebel batters. Cooper Bexell took the loss for MLWR.
On Tuesday night it was a different story.
Duluth Marshall scored nine times in the bottom of the fifth inning for the 10-0 shutout win at Wade Stadium on a cool, wet and windy evening.
The Hilltoppers scored one run in the bottom of the first inning but five walks and six hits ended the hopes of a Lumberjack victory over a very solid and talented Marshall team.
Sorenson, Neimi, and Nick Baker provided the Lumberjacks only three hits on the night, while Marshall scored 10 runs on 11 hits. Jon Baker took the loss for the Lumberjacks while the winning pitcher was Ben Pederson for Duluth Marshall. Duluth Marshall improved to 6-1 overall.
Cloquet (now 2-3) will continue with a busy schedule of makeups along with their regularly scheduled games. The Lumberjacks are set to play six games over the next eight days.
