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 Brody Dushkin tries to get control of the ball as Superior's Calvin Anderson slides in safe at home plate. The Lumberjacks fell to the Spartans 5-3 Monday.
Cloquet's Jackson Peterson gets a hit against Superior Monday in Cloquet.
The Cloquet baseball team is in the midst of the busiest part of its spring schedule. Last Thursday, the Lumberjack fell 7-5 to Proctor, on Monday they lost 5-3 to a tough Superior team. Don't judge the team's ability by its win-loss record (4-8), because all but one loss was by three runs or fewer, head coach Tyler Olin pointed out.
Against Superior, Cloquet fell behind 4-0 after the first inning and a half, but then erupted for three runs in the bottom of the second to pull to within 4-3. Grady Knutson had two RBIs and Hudson Snesrud added one RBI to pace the 'Jacks.
"We've played in a lot of tight games and just a handful of the scores that haven't ended in our favor," Olin said. "We are competing and playing well overall and we just need to improve a couple things offensively and put up a few more runs."
On the mound, the Lumberjacks got four innings from Brady Winfield, who gave up four earned runs. Drew Angell pitched three innings and gave up one earned run.
"Our pitching versus Superior, and all year really, has been solid," Olin said. "We've limited walks, as well as made plays defensively behind our pitchers."
Cloquet managed six hits off Spartan pitching with Knutson, Snesrud, Lucas Gentilinia, Adam Huls, Brody Dushkin and Jackson Peterson picking up the hits.
Superior tacked on the final run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. The Spartans were able to slam the door on Cloquet to take a narrow victory at Ed Mettner Field in Cloquet.
The Lumberjacks, who graduated a ton of players last year, are still trying to define their roles on the team and are currently sporting a 4-9 record on the season.
"Luckily we still have eight games to keep working on things before the playoffs," said Olin. "Section playoffs should be similar to how our games have gone all year, with close-game type of situations."
Next up for Cloquet was a game this Thursday at home against Hibbing, after this issue of the Pine Knot went to press. On Tuesday, May 14, they play a rescheduled game at home against Grand Rapids at 11:30 a.m. and away at Two Harbors starting at 4:30 p.m. The next day is a home game against Denfeld starting at 4:30 p.m.
