Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Quietly going about their business, the Forest Lake 19-and-under baseball team locked up a Gopher State Baseball League Championship last month.

Coached by Mike Gough, Bob Foster and Sean Gough, the Rangers started the summer with two straight losses by essentially beating themselves. One contest might see them leaving 10 runners on base, while the next had them giving up too many walks.

By the third game, though, the offense cranked out 12 earned runs and the wins started to pile up. Four straight victories got the team heading in an upward direction until they were defeated by the North Polars 11-3 on Friday, July 6.

That would be the last time Forest Lake would lose as the squad mowed through the competition with six consecutive wins to close the regular season. There was the 6-5 squeaker over Centennial that was more like a close trim, but the team was now ready for the playoffs.

During the three-game demolition to the championship, the Rangers outscored North, Robbinsdale and Lake Elmo by a total score of 24-6.

North was trounced 10-3, and Robbinsdale went down 7-0. Mitch Minnig pitched six innings of shutout ball in this one and allowed only two hits.

The Championship game was a 7-3 victory over Lake Elmo, giving the young men the league title.

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