Lakers baseball off and running

By Matt Brown

Correspondent

The Maple Lake Lakers are off and running to start the 2024 campaign, going 4-1 in the first three weeks with the only loss to a Class A opponent. The Lakers are currently in first place in the North Star League at 2-0 but have also played in two of three league games so far.

Lakers 15, Clearwater 5

The Lakers started off the scoring against their non-conference foes last Friday night with a two-run single from Matt Bergstrom in the first. The River Cats answered with three of their own in the second. Maple Lake blew the game open in the third with ten runs, including one and two-run singles from Bergstrom, who was one of five Lakers to bat twice in the inning. Clearwater were threatening in the fifth, with runners on first and third with no outs, but a strikeout and a nifty unassisted double play by first baseman Logan Orazem got the home team out of the inning. The game continued until Ben Clapp drove in Grant Mergen for the mercy rule finish in the eighth inning.

Lakers 8, Litchfield 3

The Blues set the tone early Sunday with a three-run first to get the home crowd down. Maple Lake started playing their own tune in the third, led by RBI singles from Ben Clapp and Matt Bergstrom and a two-run double from Logan Orazem to put up seven. Riley Decker drove in Grant Mergen in the sixth for a little insurance. The Lakers are off until they host Princeton on Wednesday, May 29, at 7:30