by Max Mercy

HIBBING -- Cloquet defeated Proctor, 5-2, in the Mike Bugliosi Wood Bat Classic at Al Nyberg Field in Proctor's second game on Fri., April 19.

Winning pitcher Jon Baker worked all seven innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and one walk with 11 strikeouts.

Cloquet scored two runs in the top of the first. Cooper Grashorn led off with a double, stole third, and scored on Alec Norrgard's RBI single with one out. Ryan Leyrer entered the game as a courtesy runner for Norrgard, Cloquet's catcher. Leyrer advanced to second on a wild pitch and took third on a passed ball before scoring when Joe Backus reached safely on an error.

The Lumberjacks went ahead 3-0 in the third inning when Gavin Rasmussen walked to lead off the inning, went to second on a ground out by Norrgard, and scored on an RBI double by Backus with two outs.

Proctor made it 3-2 in the fourth. Luke Nordquist led off with a single and scored from first on an RBI double by John Aase. Aase moved to third on a ground out by Bryce Huffman, and scored when Zach Gunderson was thrown out at first after a strikeout with a dropped third strike.

Cloquet advanced solo insurance runs in the sixth and seventh.

In the sixth, Grashorn led off with a single, moved to second base on Rasmussen's sacrifice hit, took third on a ground out by Norrgard, and scored on a two-out RBI single by Tim Pokornowski.

In the seventh, Jon Baker hit a double with one out, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Baker.

Nordquist (0-2 W-L, 2.14 ERA) took the loss. He pitched the first four innings and allowed three runs on four hits and five walks with one strikeout. Jake Pioro worked three innings of relief and allowed two runs on three hits with no walks and two strikeouts.

Grashorn was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs, Norrgard was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, Pokornowski was 1-for-3 with an RBI, Backus was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI, and Jon Baker was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.

Nordquist batted 2-for-3 with a run, Aase was 2-for-3 with a double, a run, and an RBI, and Gunderson was 1-for-3.