by Max Mercy

Jake Malec scored the winning run from second base on Matt Morris's check-swing soft line-drive single in the bottom of the eighth inning as Proctor defeated Moose Lake-Willow River, 8-7, in a non-conference baseball game at Proctor on May 3.

Morris's hit was perfectly placed beyond the reach of the first baseman, but was fielded cleanly by the second baseman deep in the hole with no chance at Morris at first base. Malec, who led off the inning by reaching on a two-base error, stormed past third base and dashed for home on the play. The throw appeared to beat him to the plate, but it came up short and hit Malec in the chin as he slid across home plate for the winning run.

Proctor, trailing 7-3, rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to force the extra frame. All four runs were scored with no outs. Malec led off the inning with a triple to the left-center gap and Morris was hit by a pitch, at which point Joey Whited relieved Rebels starter Wyatt Lampel. A wild pitch scored Malec and sent Morris to second before Matt Sievert walked and was replaced by pinch-runner Jordan Linder. John Aase then hit a three-run home run, his third round-tripper of the season, to knot the score at 7-7. Despite getting two runners on base with two outs, the Rails could not get the winning run across in the seventh.

Winning pitcher Matt Tracey (1-0 W-L, 0.00 ERA) worked one scoreless inning in relief in his first pitching appearance of the season. He allowed one hit in a 1-2-3 inning, as Lampel was out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double with two outs. Lampel was thrown out by left fielder Aase. It was the second time in the game that Lampel tried running on Proctor's outfield, both unsuccessfully. Right fielder Morris also had an outfield assist by throwing him out in the first inning. Lampel was 3-for-4 and reached base safely in all five plate appearances, with two runs scored and one RBI.

Nathan Carlson, who walked with two outs in the second inning, stole second base and then scored on Derek Dahlgren's RBI single to give Proctor a 1-0 lead that the Rails clung to through four complete innings as starting pitcher Zach Gunderson kept the Rebels in check.

But ML-WR plated six runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-1 lead. Three Rebels hits, three Proctor errors, and two walks contributed to the big inning. Lampel, Mark Fossum, and pinch-hitter Brendon Fogelberg each had RBI hits; Lampel's was a double. Fogelberg's hit chased Gunderson with two outs; Lucas Nordquist came on in relief and ended the inning on one pitch, a pop out to shortstop Tracey. The pitching change proved to be advantageous for the Rails as acting head coach Drew Scherber employed a double-switch, bringing in Aase into left field for third baseman Blake Koski and Bryce Huffman into third base for the departing Gunderson.

Proctor scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 6-3. Morris, who reached on an error with two outs, scored from first base on Sievert's RBI double. Jerid Parrott pinch-ran for Sievert and scored on an RBI double by Aase.

Aase was 2-for-2 with four RBIs and six total bases.

ML-WR scored a run in the top of the seventh for a 7-3 lead. Fogleberg, batting with the bases loaded, was tagged out by pitcher Nordquist on an RBI tapper down the first-base line, scoring Lampel.

Gunderson allowed one earned run on seven hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Nordquist worked two-and-one-third innings and allowed one unearned run on one hit and two walks with one strikeout. Tracey had one strikeout.

Whited picked up the loss in relief of Lampel. Lampel worked the first six innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits, two walks, and three hit batsmen. He had three strikeouts. Whited allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits and two walks with no strikeouts.

Fossom was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI for ML-WR.

Proctor is now 5-3. ML-WR dropped to 4-3.

Rails Notes

Matt Morris played in his 50th career game…Jake Malec hit his seventh career triple, moving him into sole possession of second place on Proctor's all-time list. Dan Carlson (Class of 2006) is the leader, with 10. Malec was tied with Jon Kent (Class of 2007), who hit six.…Malec moved into a tie for fourth on Proctor's all-time total bases list, with Dan Carlson (Class of 2006) and Tyler Pionk (Class of 2011), at 91 apiece.