Faribault Lakers Win Two of Three Games in Five Days

The Faribault Lakers led the Montgomery Mallards 2-1 going into the final inning today at Bell Field and saw the Mallards score 4 runs in the ninth inning to win 5-2.  Matt Lane was the on the mound when Montgomery rallied in the ninth.  The Mallards had three hit batsman, two walks and two singles in the inning.

Ryan Iverson opened the bottom of the ninth being hit by a pitch on a 1-1 count.  Cole Pint drew a walk after Lane had a 0-2 count on him.  Eric Iverson executed a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up to second and third base.  Lane struck out the next batter meaning the Lakers are an out away from victory.  Aaron Dwyer was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  With a 1-0 count to Brad Flicek, Iverson scored the tying run on a wild pitch.  Flicek singled to bring Pint home and Dwyer advanced to third base.  Pat Lloyd cracked a 2-2 pitch for a single scoring Dwyer.  Lloyd stole second base during the Mike Flicek at bat.  Mike Flicek was hit by a pitch on a 2-2 count to load the bases.

Jim Roberts was brought in to pitch and walked Johnny Krocak scoring another run before he struck out a batter to end the top of the ninth.  The Lakers went up and down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

Matt Lane smashed a two run homer to right field in the bottom of the third inning.  Dylan O'Neil scored ahead of him and got on base by being hit by a pitch.

Faribault had chances early to score more with inning opening singles by O'Neil and Jack Helgeson in the first and second innings.  Hunter Dienst opened the fifth inning with a single  to left field.

Montgomery scored their first run in the top of the 8th inning.  Jake McCabe opened the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second base by Dwyer.  Brad Flicek connected for a single scoring McCabe.  Lloyd then singled before Lane got a couple ground outs to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 8th inning Joe Grote opened with a single off new pitcher Johnny Krocak.  Grote went to second base on a ground out by Lane.  Krocak got the next two outs on a ground out and line out.

Matt Lane took the loss throwing 8 and 2/3 innings.  The Mallards had 7 hits, 5 runs, all earned.  Lane struck out 6, walked 2 and hit 4 batters while throwing 118 pitches, 78 strikes.  Roberts finished the game with 9 pitches, 3 strikes, no hits, 1 walk and 1 strikeout.  The run Roberts walked in was charged to Lane's line.

Ted Christian started the game on the mound for the Mallards and went the first 7 innings.  He allowed 6 hits, 2 runs, both earned, walked 1, struck out 11 and hit 1 batter.  Christian threw 106 pitches, 66 strikes.

Krocak got the win throwing the final two innings with 1 hit allowed, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout.  Krocak threw 20 pitches, 16 strikes.

The line totals were:

Montgomery   5 runs   7 hits   0 errors  9 runners left   4 scoring position

Faribault         2 runs   7 hits   0 errors  6 runners left   2 scoring position

The Lakers picked up a 12-3 win over Veseli on Friday with Egan Bonde getting the victory on the hill.  Bonde fanned 12 batters, walked 1 while allowing 6 hits and 3 runs over his complete game of work.  Bonde threw 126 pitches, 93 strikes

Joe Grote led Faribault at the plate with a double and triple for 4 runs batted in.  Dylan Valentyn and Kyle Murphy also had two hits in the game.

Last Wednesday Faribault had their first home game when the Owatonna Aces paid a visit.  The Lakers won 11-4 while splashing 17 hits in the game.  Five Faribault players had multi-hit games and Grote, Murphy and O'Neil collected three hits each.

Porter Sartor scored the victory going the first 5 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 earned runs.  He walked 4, struck out 2 while throwing 94 pitches, 48 strikes.  Grote threw 4 innings of no hit relief with 2 walks and 6 stikeouts and Blake Borwege threw to 4 batters with 2 walks and two earned runs.

Faribault is now 4-5 overall and 1-1 at home.