Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Legion baseball team’s head coach Kale Henry wasn’t exactly thrilled to talk about his club’s previous four games, and there was a good reason for that. The losses outnumbered the wins, and trying to find positives after a couple disappointing outcomes was fairly difficult.

Forest Lake went 1-3 on the week, as a loss against Stillwater and a win over South St. Paul were sandwiched between two losses to Woodbury.

“We struggled with Woodbury,” Henry said. “We always have.”

That comment was in regards to his team’s 5-0 loss on Saturday, June 30, where Forest Lake fell behind early and there went the afternoon.

“They got four runs in the first inning,” Henry said. “We never really recovered from that.”

Some of the credit goes to Woodbury’s starting pitcher, Henry said. And as for Forest Lake, he was pleased with what Matt Zidar did in three-plus innings of relief. Zidar gave up just two hits and zero runs.

“He did a real nice job; kept the ball down,” Henry said.

While Zidar was receiving praise for his two-hit effort, Henry had little to say about his group’s grand total of five hits. Scanning the boxscore, Henry pointed out how his team had only one runner reach third base. That was also the only baserunner to get into scoring position.

“We never even mounted any kind of threat,” Henry stated.

Woodbury’s other victory would come on Monday, June 25. Instead of falling behind early, however, Forest Lake watched a 4-1 sixth-inning lead dissolve into a 6-5 loss.

Just like in previous losses this summer, the dreaded error made an appearance and gummed up the works. And right on schedule, too. When Forest Lake needed one more out in the sixth, a gaffe here and a miscue there resulted in the one-run deficit.

Post 225 did respond with a run to tie the game at 5-5, but Woodbury answered with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Trip Schultz pitched into that pivotal sixth inning, but it was Brady Banse who would come on in relief and take the L.

“Kind of a tough-luck loss, but that’s the way it goes,” Henry said. “We’ll find a way to win those close games, hopefully, as we go through the season.”

Both Kyle Young and Ken Stelter were 2-for-4, while Schultz racked up three hits to go along with two runs scored and two stolen bases.

Perhaps the most aggravating game came against Stillwater on June 27. This would be the same Stillwater team that Forest Lake has already handled 11-3 and 10-2.

“(The) hardest thing to do is beat a team three times in a row and we proved that,” Henry said about his squad’s 8-0 misadventure.

Henry got the impression that his players believed they could simply show up and get a win, but that attitude resulted in a total of three hits on the evening.

“That was not a good effort on our part,” Henry said.

Moving on.

The lone victory came at South St. Paul the following night, as Forest Lake built a decent lead and then hung on for their fifth league-win by the score of 7-5.

Schultz brought in two baserunners with a two-run double in the first, which was followed up by Young’s two-run triple in the second inning, to put Forest Lake on top 4-0.

The boys would hold a 5-0 lead going into the sixth, when S. St. Paul mounted a five-run comeback.

Brent Kolbow started on the mound, and even though his command wasn’t all there, he still lasted into the sixth inning.

Banse took over for Kolbow, and then Forest Lake knocked in an insurance run in the top of the seventh for the win.

Pat Larson went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs, and Young went 2-for-3 with 3 ribbies.

Forest Lake (7-6, 5-5) has a break this week before hosting Mahtomedi on July 9, Oakdale on July 11, and then competing in the Gopher Classic Tourney the weekend of July 13.

“We got our work cut out for us,” Henry said. “We’re in one of the tougher brackets.”

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