The Superior Lakers baseball team won the 2nd annual "Hull Rust" tournament in Hibbing this past weekend.
The Lakers defeated the Hibbing Miners in the opening game in walk off fashion 8-7.
The Lakers found themselves trailing 6-2 after committing five errors in the second inning. The Lakers battled back in the fourth, scoring five runs that put them ahead 7-6 until the Miners worked across a run in the top of the seventh.
That set up a dramatic finish for the Lakers as Justin Baker led off with a single. Baker then stole second and took third on the errant throw to second before scoring the winning run when Josh Foreman crushed the first pitch he seen into the right center gap.
Rounding out the offense for the Lakers were Foreman with three hits, Baker and Kory Maier with two hits apiece, and Cameron Stelljes, Cory Wilander and Brent Engstrom with a single each.
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Joby Davidsavor picked up the complete-game win, surrendering two earned runs on 10 hits while walking one and striking out three.
The Lakers faced off against the defending champions, the Metro Merchants, in the semi-final game. The Merchants defeated the Lakers 6-0 in last year's championship game, but this year would be very different.
The Lakers started off flat once again, falling behind 4-0 after two innings. The Lakers, who were facing the same pitcher they saw last year, started to chip away at the deficit, plating one run in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
The Merchants scored another run in the sixth for a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Maier got the ball rolling for the Lakers with a triple to the right-center gap. After a Baker ground out, Foreman singled up the middle and Kyle Peterson singled to right before Chris Musser found the right-field chalk line to tie up the game.
Stelljes then worked a nine-pitch at bat to get a walk, loading the bases for Matt Uher, who put a dent in the ball with a one-hopper to the right-center fence for the game-winning hit and completing the second walk-off win for the Lakers.
Also for the Lakers, Uher had three hits, Maier, Baker, Stelljes and Peterson added two hits each while Foreman and Davidsavor each chipped in a single.
Foreman started on the mound for the Lakers going six innings. He allowed five runs (two earned) on six hits, walking three and striking out seven. Nathan Windschill took the mound in the seventh and collected his first win for the Lakers allowing no runs on one hit and one strikeout.
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The Lakers played a familiar foe, the Itasca Indians (Grand Rapids), in the championship game. This game was in the books before it started as the Lakers put it on cruise control for the 9-1 win.
The story of the game was Josh Taran, who picked up the complete-game win, allowing five hits with nine strikeouts and three walks.
The Lakers got three hits and three RBIs each from Maier and Peterson, while Baker had two hits and two RBIs and Foreman and Andrew Christensen had a hit each.
The Lakers (7-4 overall, 3-1 Upper 13 League) are back in action at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Proctor. They will then be at Ordean Field in Duluth at 6 p.m. Tuesday for a non-conference game against the Duluth Xpress.
Oulu 6 Hayward 5
In non-league amateur baseball action last Friday night in Hayward, the Oulu Blue Jays defeated the Hayward Hawks.
Oulu led 5-1 going into the seventh inning when Hayward erupted for four runs to tie the score. The Blue Jays came back in the eighth on Luke Olin's leadoff single, a stolen base and Steve Lahti's third hit of the game to get the tiebreaker and the win.
George Hansen got the win in relief of David Barningham, who worked seven innings while striking out nine and walking two.
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Lahti led Oulu's 10 hit attack with three, while Olin and Brandon Swartz had two apiece, and Swartz getting a double and a triple. Dave Tafelski also doubled for Oulu and had two RBIs.
Keith Heinz led the Hawks with four hits and Justin Sunderland had three.
Oulu (5-2) host Port Wing Saturday and plays at the Ashland Merchants on Sunday. Both games begin at 1:30 p.m.
