Faribault Lakers Sink New Market Muskies

The Faribault Lakers defeated the New Market Muskies 10-1 in New Market on Sunday.

The Muskies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when former Faribault Falcon Nate Rost scored on an RBI single by veteran Kyle Bertram. Rost had singled with two outs and his brother Nick walked before the Bertram single. Bertram was thrown out trying to steal second base.

Despite winning 10-1 and cranking out 17 hits, the Lakers left a lot of guys on base in the game - 11 to be exact - and eight of them were in scoring position.

Faribault answered in the third when seven men would come to the plate and they would score one run to tie the game.

Blake Langerud opened the inning with a single and Mitch Johnson had a successful bunt for a single. Joe Grote smacked an RBI single to tie the game.

Matt Lane hit a ball to third baseman Nick Rost and he tagged Johnson going to third base. Jake Stocker was hit by a pitch to load the bases but an infield pop out and fly out to left field would end the threat.

The Lakers scored two more runs when seven men came to the plate in the fourth inning to face Sean Flaherty of Lakeville in his first year with New Market.

After a strike out to start the inning, No. 9 hitter Christian Von Ruden clubbed a single to left field, Blake Langerud notched the second of his three hits on the day and Mitch Johnson had an RBI single. Johnson also had three hits in the game.

Grote was hit by a pitch. Matt Lane followed with a fly ball to deep right field to score Langerud and the Lakers were up 3-1. They did however leave two more runners in scoring position.

Jack Helgeson went the distance for Faribault and threw 135 pitches, 87 for strikes, with 28 of 43 first-pitch strikes.

Helgeson scattered eight hits and New Market left 11 runners on base with four in scoring position.

The Muskies brought in veteran lefty Derek Bergstrom in the seventh and his error to start the eighth inning on a pop up opened the inning for the Lakers. Eleven batters would hit in the inning and Bergstrom would not finish it on the hill.

After the error on a Dylan Valentyn pop up, No. 9 hitter Christian Von Ruden laid down a perfect bunt and Blake Langerud followed suit to load the bases. Mitch Johnson smacked a single back up the middle to score Valentyn. Grote had a sacrifice RBI for the first out.

Matt Lane cracked an RBI single and following a strike out for the second out.

Faribault saw Mike Carpentier get a two-strike RBI single, Porter Sartor clubbed an RBI double and Valentyn hammered a RBI double to knock out Bergstrom.

Joe McKibben of Lakeville finished the game on the hill for New Market, retiring all four batters he faced.

Faribault scored seven runs in the eighth inning on seven hits to blow the game wide open. The Lakers had four multi-hit innings and five players had multi-hit games.

Blake Langerud did what a good leadoff man should, get on  base and score. He was on base three of the five times up and scored each time.

Mitch Johnson had three singles and two RBI. Matt Lane tallied two hits including an infield hit and collected two RBI. Porter Sartor continued to swing a hot bat with three hits, including an RBI double. Christian Von Ruden had two hits, including a perfect bunt in the seven-run eighth inning.

The Lakers had three very perfectly executed bunts in the game by Von Ruden, Langerud and Johnson.

Faribault is fun to watch when they get that speed game going.

They don't have to wait long for the rematch. New Market is at Faribault on Wednesday at 7:30PM, and it sounds like the pitching matchup will be a great one: Matt Lane for Faribault and Nate Rost for New Market.

I told the guys in the concession stand they should have fish sandwiches in honor of the Muskies. They didn't think that was a very good idea. Actually, Treasure Cave Blue Cheese burgers sound great for Bell Field's concession stand. That would be awesome with an ice cold Fleck's beer don't you think?