Abrahamson strikes out 13 in Superior's win over Proctor

PROCTOR -- Capitalizing on getting their lead-off batter on base and the strong pitching of junior Chris Abrahamson, the Superior Senior High School boys' baseball team defeated the Proctor Rails 4-3 here on Tuesday afternoon.

The victory was only the Spartans' fourth straight, after opening the year with three losses, but it also moves them into sole possession of first place in the Lake Superior Conference with a 4-1 record.

Superior's 12 points in league play is two better than Duluth Denfeld, who is also 4-1 but with only 10 points. Proctor falls to 2-2 in the LSC, which is good for a tie for second place with Duluth Central and Duluth East. All three teams have eight points.

Adam Peterson, who led the Spartans with a pair of hits, led off the game with a single, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Bob Eastman.

After stranding runners at second and third base in the third inning and at second base in the fourth, the Spartans finally made it 3-0 with a pair of runs in the fifth.

Brett Nelson led off the inning with a double and scored on a Brett Price single. Price, who moved up a base on an error on the play, scored a batter later when Eastman doubled.

Two hit batters, two errors and a fielder's choice helped the Rails score two runs in the bottom of the fifth and cut Superior's lead to 3-2.

But the Spartans got back one of those runs in the top of the seventh when Nelson led off the inning with a walk and scored on a Peterson sacrifice fly.

"Getting the lead-off on base was important for us today," said SSHS Head Coach Steve Fregin, whose Spartans scored 3-of-4 times when doing so.

The Spartans mentor also lauded the complete-game performance of Abrahamson, who allowed five hits with 13 strikeouts and four walks.

"Chris had a very good outing," said Fregin. "He made some big pitches when he had to, he established his fastball and he finished very strong."

After allowing a couple of runs in the fifth, Abrahamson finished strong with three strikeouts in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh.

The Spartans also got hits from Jon Myhre and Abrahamson.

The Spartans (4-3) are back at home on Thursday when they host Duluth East at 4:30 p.m. at the Morrie Arnovich Field. Junior lefty Marc Rothschadl (0-1) will take the mound for the Spartans.

Superior is right back in action on Friday with a 6 p.m. date with Little Falls, Minn., at the Metrodome.

(The [Superior] Daily Telegram, April 28, 1999)