The Duluth Denfeld Hunters rallied past the Superior High School baseball team with three runs in the seventh inning and the winning run in the eighth for a 9-8 victory Tuesday evening at Morrie Arnovich Field.
With the Spartans leading 7-5 after six innings, Denfeld rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh. After a hit by pitch and a walk, Josh Benson hit an RBI double and Aaron Hoag followed with a two-run single up the middle.
Superior forced extra innings with a run in the bottom of the seventh, as Andy Ross singled, went to third on a steal and bunt by Eric Orr and scored on Brent Engstrom's RBI ground out.
In the eighth, Denfeld drew a two-out walk, and the runner eventually scored on a fly ball that was misplayed in short right field.
Superior then hit three line outs in the bottom of the eighth to end the game.
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"You have to give Denfeld credit for battling the entire game and getting some key hits," SHS coach Don Dembroski said. "But when it comes down to it, we were our own worst enemy. We made six errors in the field, we made four outs on the bases and our pitchers walked seven and hit three other batters."
The Spartans, 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Lake Superior Conference, have lost three games this year by a total of four runs, and two of the losses have come when leading going into the last inning.
"Those kinds of losses are tough on a team," Dembroski said.
Superior had eight hits, including two from Zach Sitek, who hit a two-run double in the third inning and an RBI infield single in the fourth.
Craig Torgerson also had two hits and Andy Ross had two hits and scored two runs. Getting one hit each were Brent Engstrom, Cory Wilander, Dan Manion and Matt Archambault.
Torgerson, Eric Orr and Wilander pitched for the Spartans, allowing nine hits with nine strikeouts and eight walks.
SPARTAN SPIN: The Spartans host Duluth Marshall at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. ... The Spartan JV improved to 6-2 with a 14-4 win over Duluth Denfeld's JV. Jordan Olson and Kellen McCoshen pitched for the Spartans, who collected 12 hits. Leading the attack was Olson, with two doubles, a single and two RBIs. Lee Nagorski also went 3-for-3 and scored five runs; Ron Case had two hits and Justin Andrews and Jason Picard each added clutch two-run singles.
