Lakers end one streak, start another

It was a big week of North Star League match-ups this past week for the Maple Lake Lakers as they took on the Hutchinson Huskies and Buffalo Bulldogs in back-to-back days.

Maple Lake vs. Hutchinson

On Friday, June 6, the Lakers hosted the Hutchinson Huskies for their first game in five days.

With Ben Jungers on the mound, the Lakers’ defense put the Huskies down one, two, three in the top of the first. Then, in the bottom half of the inning, Nate Johnson led off the offensive threat with a single and later stole second. With Johnson in scoring position on second, Keith Jerpseth ripped a double to right center that moved Johnson around to score the Lakers’ lone run of the inning.

A lead-off walk, two singles, and an error yielded two runs for Hutchinson in the second inning. The Lakers had their chance in the bottom of the second to tie the game back up at two all, but Todd Fuller was left stranded at third.

Again in the top of the third, a lead-off walk and errors caused the Lakers’ defense to give up three more runs to put the score at 5-1. Maple Lake failed to get a base runner in the bottom of the third as they went three-up and three-down.

In the top of the fourth, with their lead-off batter at the plate, the Huskies managed to score yet another two runs off three hits. Jungers recorded all three outs for the Lakers as he tallied three strikeouts in the inning.

The next productive inning for both teams was the sixth. Hutchinson managed to score one run on a sacrifice fly to center field. The Lakers, on the other hand, scored two runs to put their total at three. Chad Raiche led off the inning with a single, and Jerpseth reached on an error by the pitcher to put runners on first and second. Then Mic Johnson stepped to the plate and ripped a double that scored Raiche and pinch runner Riley Decker.

Sam Marsnik came in to relieve Jungers in the top of the seventh and held the Huskies scoreless. The Lakers, however, put another run on the board as N. Johnson, who reached the base paths on a single, scored as Jerpseth drove him in on a ground-out to the shortstop.

With the score at 8-4, the Lakers got themselves out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the eighth as shortstop Raiche caught a fly-out.

However, Hutchinson repaid the favor to the Lakers in the bottom of the ninth.

More information appears in this weeks issue of the Messenger.

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