COOK — With occasional drizzle and standing water on the field, the Cook Little Gophers entertained the Falls High Broncos baseball team Tuesday afternoon at the newly renamed Dan Swanson Field in Cook.
The Broncos came away with a 15-8 victory, but trailed for most of the game due to mental errors.
“Our kids didn’t think the field was playable and our play reflected that,” Broncos head coach Vic Heinlen said. “The field conditions effected us in the first part of the game both offensively and defensively.”
Adam Potter got the start on the mound for the Broncos and pitched two solid innings giving up two earned runs on three hits and three walks with one strike out.
It was Potter’s first start of the season and he had to rely on his breaking ball against a traditionally good fastball hitting Little Gophers lineup.
“He hasn’t seen very much mound time due to the shortened season,” Heinlen said. “We put Adam in a spot today, we basically told him that ‘this team will hit your fastball if you put it across the plate.’
“His pitch selection was dictated by this team’s reputation. He has a great breaking ball, but he uses the fastball to set it up and today we asked him to go the other way. The experience gained from being forced into a situation like that is tremendous.”
Chad Sohlman picked up the win pitching the final five innings, giving up one earned run on six hits and three walks, striking out three.
After scoring only three runs through the first five innings and down 8-3, the Broncos put together a small rally in the top of the sixth inning to cut the Little Gophers lead to two runs at 8-6.
The Broncos defense adjusted to the field conditions and handed Cook their first scoreless inning of the game in the bottom of the sixth.
With one down in the top of the seventh and rally caps on, the Broncos put two runners on base with a single followed by a walk.
A wild pitch moved the runners into scoring position and Jacob Casareto hit a bloop double into left that scored one and put runners on second and third.
The team took their first lead of the game when Ames Bryant laced a triple into left field that scored two runs and put the Broncos out front 9-8.
The Broncos would send 13 batters to the plate in a nine-run inning that saw the Little Gophers give up five hits, five walks and commit three fielding errors. The Broncos went from being down 8-6 to leading 15-8.
“The same thing happened to them in the sixth and seventh innings that happened to us in the first five innings,” Heinlen said. “They let the field effect them.”
Sohlman came back out for his fifth inning of work and retired three out of the four batters he faced for the 15-8 victory.
“We didn’t play good ball at the start, but we came back and hit the ball hard for two innings,” Heinlen said. “When you hit the ball hard and put the ball in play, good things happen.”
Casareto led the Broncos from the plate going 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Danny Eldien had a solid day at the plate going 4-for-5 with two runs scored while Ames Bryant finished with two RBIs, two runs scored and a triple.
The Broncos (4-5) will be in Duluth to face Marshall today at 4:30 p.m. and in Roseau on Thursday for a 4:30 p.m. game with the Rams.