By Max Mercy
HIBBING -- Proctor won two of three games in the weekend tournament. The Rails defeated Greenway, 6-5 in eight innings, and Hibbing, 10-5, on Friday and lost to Cloquet, 5-4, on Saturday.
Friday vs. Greenway
The team arrived at Al Nyberg Field around 3 p.m. for a 5 p.m. scheduled game due to a staggered start (4 p.m.) for the junior varsity at Vic Power Field. The 12 p.m. varsity game, a 22-14 Hibbing victory over Cloquet, had not yet finished. The Lumberjacks then rebounded to defeat Greenway, 11-8, in the afternoon game that was scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. but did not commense until around 4 p.m. Proctor finally began play at around 7 p.m.
The Rails scored a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI groundout by Kennan Reyelts. Proctor went ahead, 4-0, with a three-run fourth on three hits, a walk, two hit batsmen, and three stolen bases. Tanner Olson connected for an RBI double in the inning.
Greenway scored a run on an RBI double in the fifth for a 4-1 score. The Raiders plated four runs in the top of the seventh to go ahead by one run, 5-4. There were four hits, a walk, and two Proctor errors in the top half of the frame.
Proctor forced the game into extra innings when Nick Terhaar scored from first base on a double by Olson. In the top of the eighth, relief pitcher Jake Amendola got out of a jam with runners on first and third bases with two outs when he induced a fly out to retire the side without allowing a run. Blake Imhoff then took the game into his own hands in the bottom of the eighth by knocking a single with two outs, stealing second base, and scoring the winning run after stealing third and advancing to cross the plate the on an errant throw on his steal attempt.
Imhoff batted 3-for-5 with two runs and he tied the school record with four stolen bases. Olson also tied a school record by blasting three doubles in the game. Imhoff shares the record with Eric Kindgren (1989, vs. Duluth East), Justin Scanlon (2010, vs. Two Harbors), and Jimmy Merling (2011, vs. Duluth Marshall). Olson joins Lucas McCarthy (2009, vs. Duluth Denfeld), Ian Scherber (2010, vs. Superior), and John Aase (2017, vs. St. Cloud Cathedral).
Amendola notched his first varsity win in relief of starter Kennan Reyelts, who allowed one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts in five innings. Amendola allowed one hit and had one strikeout in one inning. He was not done for the evening.
Friday/Saturday vs. Hibbing
The scheduled start time was 7:30 p.m. The actual start time was shortly after 10 p.m.
Proctor took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on Olson's two-run single. Hibbing went ahead, 3-2, with three runs in the second inning. The Bluejackets chased starter Carson Pavlowich as they had three hits, two walks, and a hit batsman in between a pickoff and a groundout. Amendola relieved and threw one pitch for a fly out to end the inning with two runners left on base.
Proctor stormed back by plating three runs in the third. The inning included a two-run single by Terhaar.
Hibbing cut the Rails' lead to 5-4 with a run on two hits and a stolen base in the third.
AJ Reyelts, who singled with two outs in the fifth, scored from second base when he safely stole third base and scooted home on an error on the play. This put Proctor ahead, 6-4.
Hibbing again cut into the lead with a run on two hits in the fifth.
The Rails jumped ahead, 8-5, with two runs in the sixth. Imhoff doubled to start the frame and scored on an RBI double by Conner Pavlowich. Pavlowich scored on a Terhaar RBI single with two outs.
Proctor scored two more runs in the seventh on a two-run single by Kennan Reyelts. Meanwhile, Amendola retired the side after a leadoff single in the sixth and he sandwiched two walks in between the three outs in the seventh for his second win of the night, except is was not the same day anymore. The game ended at 12:36 a.m.
Amendola (2-1, 4.94 ERA) earned the win. He allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in five and one-third innings. Proctor's offense was led by Kennan Reyelts (3-for-4, two runs, two RBI) and Terhaar (2-for-3, one run, three RBI).
The team bus arrived back in Proctor at approximately 2:20 a.m. The locker room emptied at around 2:40 a.m. and Coach Bush made it home at 3:05 a.m.
Saturday vs. Cloquet
Six hours later, Coach Bush was back to open the locker room. The bus departed at 10 a.m. for the 12:30 p.m. JV game and the 1 p.m. varsity tilt.
Cloquet went ahead with a run in the bottom of the first and the Lumberjacks padded their lead to 3-0 with two runs in the third.
Josh Monreal's fourth-inning RBI single made the score 3-1, and the Rails went ahead, 4-3, with three runs in the sixth. The inning featured Kennan Reyelts reaching base safely on a sacrifice hit that resulted in a throwing error that allowed two runs to score. Reyelts advanced to third base on the play and scored on an RBI groundout by Nolan McLeod.
Cloquet tied the score, 4-4, on an error with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. The Lumberjacks scored the walk-off run on a fly-ball single off a drawn-in Rails defense with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh.
Reliever AJ Reyelts (0-1, 7.87 ERA) took the loss in relief of starter Grant Walker. AJ Reyelts allowed one run on two hits and one walk (plus one intentional free pass) in two-thirds of an inning. Walker allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits and four walks with three strikeouts in five and one-third innings.
Imhoff had two hits to pace Proctor's offense.
After a stop for dinner in Hibbing, the bus arrived back in Proctor at around 5:20 p.m.
The Rails, now 8-7, are back in action at home against Duluth Denfeld on Tuesday, May 18.