Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

As soon as it looked like the Brewers had discovered their magic formula to secure wins, wins and more wins, they proceeded to stub their collective toes and, once again, let Hamel get out of town with another victory last Friday night.

The weekend did end on a good note, however, as Forest Lake defeated the Coon Rapids LoGators to sweep the 3-game season series.

With Zach Guttormson on the mound, the Brewers used his five innings of 1-run ball to jump out to an early lead on Coon Rapids.

Forest Lake scored three in the first inning, and put up three more in the third.

Paul Miron was the man offensively - collecting three RBI on three hits, with one of those being his first home run of the season.

With a cushy 12-1 lead heading into the seventh inning, the Brewers ran into trouble when the LoGators scored five runs to cut the lead in half, and then added two more runs in the eighth.

That would be as close as Coon Rapids would come as Forest Lake tacked on one more run late in the game for good measure.

Not helping matters for the LoGators was an obscene seven errors, but Brewers coach Adam Gallatin was pleased to see some hitting.

ìItís good to see our offense is starting to come around as we have scored 10 runs in our last three games,î he noted afterward.

On Friday, July 7, Forest Lake had its rematch with the Hamel Hawks. The previous week saw the two teams in a wild contest that went to extra innings and featured a bit of controversy.

For the second Friday in a row, though, the Brewers would take a lead into the eighth inning against the Hawks, but could not secure the win.

With the score 3-1 in Forest Lakeís favor, Hamel would get three runs in the top of the eighth for a 4-3 lead.

With a sudden need for offense, the Brewers rallied for four runs of their own.

Steve Carlisle got things started with a single, and after a fielderís choice Brian Welch was hit by a pitch, and Bobby Hager walked to load the bases.

This time it was Mike Miron who collected the RBI when he drilled a double to bring in two Brewers.

Alex Johnson followed with a single, which scored two more. Forest Lake was now up 7-4 and just had to hold on in the ninth to get the W.

Even with the support of a great crowd in attendance for Tomorrowís Real Estate pre-game party, the Brewers would lose its grip on momentum.

Hamel would get six runs in their last at-bat and regain control of the game with a 10-7 lead.

Forest Lake was blanked in the bottom half of the ninth and that was that.

The loss eliminated another solid effort from Chris Parent who went seven innings, striking out six, and giving up only one run in the non-decision.

ìIt was a pretty exciting game, despite the fact that we lost,î Gallatin shared. ìAnd we had a great crowd that really added to the atmosphere.î

Next up for the Brewers are home games against Blaine on Wednesday, and a doubleheader on Sunday against Andover.

Despite the recent up and down play, Forest Lake is lumped near the top of the Metro Minny Conference with a 9-5 record. St. Francis and Hamel are 8-3 and 9-3, respectively.

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Forest Lake Times
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Forest Lake, MN 55025
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