Rails upend Hibbing, 7-2

by GARY GIOMBETTI sports editor

HIBBING -- When Tim Rohweder took over the Proctor High School baseball team five years ago, the Rails were struggling to keep their heads above water.

In Rohweder's second year, Proctor finished 1-17.

Three years later, Proctor has turned the corner to success, finishing over .500 during the regular season.

With Ryan Vanderscheuren and Dan Solarz getting three hits apiece, the Rails defeated Hibbing 7-2 Thursday at Al Nyberg Field to finish the season 10-9.

"It's the first winning season we've had since I've been here," Rohweder said. "It's pretty exciting. We're getting it turned around. I have to give all the credit to these guys."

The Rails have committed themselves during the summer to baseball, and with a new fitness center at the school, they have put in the time to keep in baseball shape.

"They took it upon themselves to make the changes," Rohweder said. "They took it and went with it. We're starting to change the culture and mindset of what people think about Proctor baseball."

Hibbing scored first thanks to a Rails' error in the first inning, but Proctor got that run back in the third inning.

In the fourth, No. 9 hitter Jesse Frick blasted a solo home run and the Rails had the lead for good.

"We got production from the bottom half of our order," Rohweder said. "They came through. That's one of the things we haven't had in the past."

"They want to be the ones to do it. They want to get the big hits."

Proctor added three more runs in the fourth thanks to four Bluejacket errors. Capitalizing on errors was something Rohweder's teams haven't done in the past.

"We've preached all year to take advantage of other teams' mistakes," Rohweder said. "We've cut down on our errors. They didn't take advantage of ours, and we took advantage of theirs."

The Bluejackets scored once in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Blake Ellefson, but Proctor added two more runs in the sixth as Dustin Wiita hit an RBI single.

Vanderscheuren picked up the pitching win.

"Vandy pitched strikes," Rohweder said. "We're not walking guys and that's the formula for winning."

Kyle Wojtysiak had two hits for the Rails, including a double. Jake Comnick added two hits, with a double. Frick also had two hits.

Brian Simberg had three hits for Hibbing. Graham Parson, Tony Zbacnik and Nick Ongaro had one hit apiece.

(Hibbing Daily Tribune, May 29, 2004)

Baseball ends season against H'town

Proctor 7, Hibbing 2

Proctor beat Hibbing 7-2 in seven innings of play. Proctor accumulated seven runs in four innings.

In the fourth, Blake Reinke scored.

In the fifth inning Jesse Frick hit...a home run.

In the sixth inning the Rails added two more runs to top off the game at 7-2.

(Proctor Journal, June 10, 2004)