Rails baseball opens season with pair of losses

Proctor High School baseball players are hoping to iron out the rough spots early in the season, so when the hard-ballers head into the final stretch they will be ready for a solid run at the Section Championship.

Unfortunately, the first two teams the Rails faced are two of the toughest in their respective areas.

Virginia 10, Proctor 4

First up was Virginia with several returning key players offering a solid offense and defense.

[The] first inning looked good for Proctor with three runs crossing home plate in the top of the first for the 3-0 lead. Virginia answered with a seven-run first inning performance to take the four-run lead.

In the end, the Rails added one more run in the top of the fourth. Virginia posted single runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings.

Ryan Vanderscheuren took the loss giving up five walks, while striking out two Blue Devils batters.

In looking at his team's offensive efforts Proctor coach Tim Rohweder indicated Jake Comnick had the hot bat going 2-for-3 at the plate, and he drove in a single run and crossed home plate. Jesse Frick turned in a hit in his one official appearance at the plate, while also clubbing in a solo RBI...Rails catcher Seth Reinke connected once in three trips to the plate to also drive in a run.

On defense, pitchers Dan Carlson and Chris Hansen turned in good performances from the pitcher's mound, as each made their varsity pitching debuts.

One thing that haunted the Rails in this outing was four errors, while Virginia had no errors on the day.

"This was a great measuring stick for us to start the year," said Rohweder. "Leaving the gym is always interesting because you get a chance to see where you are at situationally. We saw some good things in this game both on offense and defense."

(Proctor Journal, April 24, 2003)