by Max Mercy
HIBBING -- Proctor pounded out 17 hits and Mason Flick (4-2 W-L, 0.69 ERA) thrice came within one pitch of a no-hit shutout as Proctor defeated Hibbing, 13-3, in the Mike Bugliosi Wood Bat Classic. The game ended after six innings due to the 10-run rule.
Flick, whose only pitching blemishes were a hit batsman in the first, his own error on a pop fly in the second, and a hit batsman who was erased on a double play in the fifth, needed just one more out to preserve the zeros on the scoreboard. He instead settled for a two-hit complete game with three unearned runs with two walks and two hit batsmen and five strikeouts.
Proctor smacked four doubles in the top of the first inning en route to a 4-0 lead. Lucas Nordquist led off with a double. He advanced to third when Jordan Linder reached on an error. Bryce Huffman's two-run double sent in both runners. Huffman scored on Blake Koski's RBI double with one out. Koski scored on an RBI double by Austin Parrott with two outs. The four doubles in an inning broke the previous school record of three set in 2007 against Milaca and tied in 2017 against St. Cloud Cathedral. The state record for doubles in an inning is five, set by four teams. Proctor is the only team in state records to report four two-baggers in an inning.
The Rails scored seven runs on eight hits in the third. The inning started with five consecutive hits: singles by Zach Gunderson and Koski, a two-RBI double by Tanner Olson, a single by Austin Parrott, and an RBI double by Jerid Parrott. Linder got the hit parade started again after two outs. He delivered an RBI single, which was followed by a single by Huffman and an RBI single by Gunderson. Gunderson's two hits in an inning tied the school record set by Scott St. Germain in 1983, also against Hibbing, and tied by Ben Harnell against Rush City in 2018. Ryan Lear, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Olson, walked with the bases loaded to send in Huffman for the inning's final run.
Proctor added a run in the fourth when Nordquist, who singled, scored from first on a throwing error.
With two outs in the fifth, Flick had an 0-and-2 count on Joe Boggio, who batted followed the double play, but lost him to a walk. He had a 2-and-2 count on Ryne Sampson before Sampson reached on an error. He had an 0-and-2 count on Blake Tomberlin before Tomberlin's RBI single plated Boggio to break up the no-hitter and the shutout. Will Durie then reached on an error that sent in Sampson for Hibbing's second run. Ryley Lund's RBI single scored Tomberlin.
Austin Parrott led off the sixth with his second double of the game. He moved to third on Jerid Parrott's groundout and scored on an RBI single by Nordquist to give the Rails another 10-run cushion.
Hibbing had two runners on base in the sixth, via an error and a walk, before second baseman [Connor Pavlowich] snared a grounder and threw to Ethan Bakke at first base to end the game.
Losing pitcher Lund allowed 11 runs (nine earned) on 13 hits with no walks and one strikeout in two and one-third innings.
Nordquist and Austin Parrott led Proctor with three hits apiece. Huffman and Olson had two RBI each. Nordquist, Linder, Huffman, and Koski each scored two runs. All nine starters had at least one hit.
Proctor, now 10-5, is back in action at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22, at home against Duluth Denfeld.
Rails Notes
Bryce Huffman batted 6-for-11 in the three-game tournament and now has 50 hits in his varsity career. He is the 19th player to join the Rails 50 Career Hits Club. Blake Koski recorded four fielding assists in the weekend tournament and he now has 101 assists in his career. He is the eighth known player in school records to reach 100 career assists.