Lakers sweep Padres, split with North Stars

The Superior Lakers amateur baseball team went 3-1 on the weekend, sweeping the Duluth Padres on Sunday and splitting a doubleheader with the Twin Ports North Stars on Saturday.

The Lakers and North Stars split an Upper 13 League baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon in Solon Springs. The Lakers won the opener 8-3 before the North Stars handed Superior its first league loss in two years, 21-3.

Superior then wrapped up its regular season with wins of 1-0 and 5-4 over the Padres Sunday at Minnesota Duluth’s Bulldog Park.

Lakers 1, Padres 0

Dan Nelson out-dueled Anthony Bush as Superior scored their lone run in the top of the first inning when Orry Engebretsen singled and scored on an RBI single by Evan Walker.

Nelson tossed a two-hit shutout with two walks and seven strikeouts. Bush (5-2, 1.51 ERA) threw his fourth complete game of the season in his club-leading 11th start. He allowed one run on seven hits and no walks with four strikeouts.

Walker and Michael Stocke had two hits and Engebretsen, Taylor Olson and Kevin Stocke had one hit each for Superior. Nick Moran had both of Duluth's hits.

Lakers 5, Padres 4

Winning pitcher Tyler Carlson allowed one earned run on six hits and two walks in a complete game effort. He had no strikeouts.

Jesse Olson (5-4, 2.30 ERA) suffered the loss for Duluth. He threw his sixth complete game in eight starts this season. Olson allowed three earned runs on seven hits and six walks with four strikeouts. He tied Bush's 2009 club record with his 14th pitching appearance this season.

Walker was 3-for-4 with an RBI and Kellen McCoshen was 2-for-3 for Superior. Adam Zwak and Nelson also singled for the Lakers.

Tim Nylund was 2-for-3 and Mike Lewis was 2-for-4 for Duluth.

Duluth finishes its Upper 13 League schedule with an 8-6 record and is 12-14 overall. Superior is 10-1 in league play and 13-2 overall.

Lakers 8, North Stars 3

Zwak was the winning pitcher for the Lakers in Saturday’s opener in Solon Springs, allowing five hits with 10 strikeouts and four walks.

Tim Bouvine, Chris Vendela and Riley Grandson pitched for the North Stars, allowing 13 hits with five strikeouts and three walks.

Kyle Hoffman led Superior offensively, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run home run. Engebretsen and Olson each had two hits and an RBI; K. Stocke had two hits; Dylan Ramage had an RBI single; and McCoshen, Dan Nelson and Zach Magdzas all singled.

The North Stars got RBI singles from Cal Fougner and Dale Rajala and singles from Brendan Willis, Joe Stark and Bob Eastman.

North Stars, 21, Lakers 3

The North Stars pounded Laker pitching in game two with 19 hits in the five-inning game. After scoring four runs in the first inning, Twin Ports followed with innings of five, six, four and two runs.

Stark had a big game for the Stars, going 4-for-4 with six RBIs. Among his hits was a three-run home run.

Eastman also added a three-run home run, a solo home run and an RBI ground out.

Also for Twin Ports, Rich Hailey was 4-for-4 with an RBI; Willis doubled, singled and knocked in four runs; Sean Cummings had two hits and two RBIs; Fougner had a RBI double; Rajala singled twice; Mike Swanson doubled and Dan Genrich singled.

Swanson picked up the win for the North Stars. His no-hit, shutout bid was broken up by Ramage’s bunt single in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Lakers followed by scoring their three runs.

Swanson finished his three-hitter with five strikeouts and four walks.

The Lakers got an RBI single from Hoffman, and singles from Olson and Ramage. K. Stocke was also hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Engebretsen knocked in a run on a groundout.

M. Stocke and Olson pitched for the Lakers, allowing 19 hits with five strikeouts and five walks.

The North Stars end the regular season 11-3 in the Upper 13 League and 16-8 overall.

All three clubs will now await the results of the Wisconsin Baseball Association's playoff-seeding meeting, to be held on Tuesday at Chippewa Falls. The 64th Annual WBA Playoffs begin with semifinals action Aug. 10-12 at four sites, and end with the state tournament Aug. 17-19 at Osseo.

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