Horrible Defense Bailed Out by Reds Bats
Posted May 20, 2019
The Crookston Reds Amateur Baseball team got the offense rolling early but had to hold on late to pick up their first win of the year 17-13 against the Thief River Falls Bombers Sunday night.
Riley Thompson opened the scoring leading off the second with a first-pitch home run for a 1-0 lead. The Reds tacked on two more in the third. Alex LaFrance led off the inning with a high chopper over the mound for an infield single and moved to second on a groundout. Noah Zimmerman followed on with an RBI double to make it 2-0. Zimmerman advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. "We started very well on offense," said Manager Matt Morin. "It was a nice bounce back from a slow opening day in the opener."
After the Bombers scored three runs in the fourth, the Reds offense went back to work. With one down Zimmerman singled to right center and stole second. Bailey Schmitz singled to center and advanced to second on the throw to the plate as Zimmerman scored to give the Reds a 4-3 lead. After a base hit put runners on the corners, Schmitz would score on a passed ball making it 5-3. Back-to-back walks would load the bases. A passed would bring home another run making it 6-3. With runners on second and third, Blake Kawlewski hit a chopper on the left side and the throw home was not in time bringing home another run to make it 7-3. A wild pitch would bring home the fifth run of the inning before Rob Silvers hit an RBI single to right making it 9-3. "After giving up the lead we really responded well," said Morin. "I think we had 12 different guys with hits today."
The Reds extended their lead to 10-3 when Zimmerman hit a one-out double in the sixth, moved to third and scored on an RBI groundout by Dave Grabowski. The Bombers would answer with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 10-5. In the top of the seventh Cody Magsam singled with one out and was forced out at second when Silvers hit into a fielders choice. Ellefson entered the game to run for Silvers and moved to second when the pitcher threw a pickoff attempt down the right field line. Zach Stangl followed with an RBI single to make it 11-5. In the bottom of the inning, the Reds make three consecutive errors that resulted in three runs cutting the lead to 11-8.
The Reds would explode for five more runs in the eighth inning. Zimmerman led off with a walk and then was called out for runners interference when he was struck by a batted ball on his way to second allowing Schmitz to reach first. A walk put runners at first and second before Thompson singled to left scoring Schmitz. Matt Morin followed with an RBI single to center to make it 13-8. Ellefson then singled home a run to make it 14-8 and put runners on the corners. Stangl then beat out a groundball scoring Morin to make 15-8 allowing Ellefson to go to third and later score on a wild pitch to 16-8. In the bottom of the inning, Lucas Magnusson hit a solo home run to left to make it 16-9.
The Reds would tack on an insurance run in the top of the ninth. With two outs Thompson walked, which was followed by back to back singles to load the bases. Ellefson would single to left to score Thompson and make it 17-9 entering the ninth inning. The Reds defensive struggles continued in the ninth as the leadoff man reached on an error a second, and moved to second on a wild pitch. A walk single loaded the bases with one out before an errant throw on a double play attempt skipped into right field allowing two runs to score to make it 17-11. A walk would load the bases for Magnusson who singled to center to make it 17-12. The Reds had to call Stangl in from his position in center field to try to save the gave. The first batter he faced hit a sharp groundball to third that the third baseman couldn't handle scoring another run to make it 17-13. Stangl was then able to get a strikeout and pop out to save the game. "We were very sloppy on defense and we have to clean that up if we're going to win," said Morin. "We only gave up 7 hits and three earned runs. We won't win many games if we can't field a ground ball or throw the ball around."
The Reds improve to 1-1 with the win and return to the field Wednesday in a Red River League game against the Dilworth Raildogs. The game will be played in Crookston, but Dilworth will be the home team as they were unable to secure a local field. The Bombers fall to 0-1.