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Brewers drop pair; go 7-3 in last 10 games
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Wednesday, 02 July 2008
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Cliff Buchan
Sports Writer
A pair of defeats have been a setback for the Forest Lake Brewers, but the local town team is still playing its best baseball of the summer, clicking off seven wins in its past 10 games.
The Brewers lost to the Class A Minneapolis Rocks, 3-2 on Sunday after falling to the Coon Rapids Redbirds, 11-2 on June 25.
The defeats brought to a halt Forest Lake’s three-game win streak.
The run of wins started on June 18 when the Brewers bashed the Rum River Bandits, 13-0 at Cambridge. Forest Lake followed up that win with a 16-4 rout of the Ham Lake Freeze on June 21 at Ham Lake.
On June 22, the Brewers traveled to East Bethel where they handed the East Bethel Bandits a 14-3 drubbing.
The 3-2 record over the past five games pushed the Brewers to 9-8 on the season and 7-4 in the Metro Minny League.
Game results
Managers Tyler Engquist and Adam Gallatin nearly saw their club claim a big win over the Minneapolis club. The Brewers held a 2-0 lead before the Rocks rallied for three in the top of the ninth to claim the victory.
Dave Gauerke pitched seven strong innings, allowing just two hits and fanning eight. Forest Lake moved in front with RBI hits from Bobby Hager and Nick Carroll.
Forest Lake’s bullpen could not hold the lead in the final inning, however, as the Rocks rallied. Pat Larson worked a scoreless eighth before giving way to Trip Schultz in the ninth. The Rocks roughed up Schultz with four hits and three earned runs.
The Brewers were never in the contest with Coon Rapids. The Redbirds scored three in the first and added four runs in the third to gain quick control.
Alex Johnson and Schultz drove in runs in Forest Lake’s two-run third inning. Josh Hansen was the losing pitcher for the Brewers. Hager and John Mollner led the offense with a pair of hits each.
The bats were at work in the three games that the Brewers won.
In the 14-3 win over the Bandits, Chris Parent worked six innings for the win while Alex Johnson homered and drove in three runs and Mark Miron homered and knocked in four runs.
Chris Anderson also homered for the Brewers. A six-run sixth inning broke open the game.
In the 16-4 win at Ham Lake, Jed Hanson belted a homer and drove in three runs to push Pat Larson to the mound victory. Carroll and Schultz both knocked in three runs.
Hanson and Schultz both had four hits in the game while Anderson and Mark Miron both had three hits.
Parent worked seven innings and allowed just two hits in the 13-0 win over the River Bandits.
Anderson, Carroll and Brian Welch all had two hits for the Brewers with Welch, Carroll and Jed Hanson all driving in two runs.
Forest Lake scored its 13 runs in two innings — eight in the third and five in the eighth.
Team notes
It will be a busy two-week period for the Brewers.
On Wednesday, July 2, the Brewers hosted the Champlin LoGators at Schumacher Field. On Sunday, the Brewers will host Moe’s St. Paul in a 7 p.m. game at Schumacher.
On Tuesday, July 8, the Brewers travel to the St. Francis Saints. On Thursday, July 10 the Brewers will be in Blaine to play the Blaine Fusion. Both games are at 7:30 p.m.
On Friday, July 11, the Brewers host the Rum River Bandits at 7:30 p.m.
The July 11 game is also Fan Appreciation Night at Schumacher Field. All kids wearing a baseball or softball uniform will receive a free hotdog, chips and drink.
The evening will include many door prizes donated by team sponsors. Team merchandise will also be part of the door prize package.
Rain on Friday, June 27 washed out a contest against the Soderville Outlaws. It will be made up at a later date.
Player notes
As the team heads into the key point of its season, Parent at 5-1 is the top pitcher. Larson is 1-0 while Gauerke is 2-3.
Anderson, who has seen duty limited to weekends, is leading the team in batting at .455. Hager is batting a lofty .413 with 19 hits while Nick Bolin, who has a team high 23 hits and co-leads the club with 61 at-bats, is hitting .377.
Alex Johnson leads the Brewers with 12 RBIs while Carroll has driven in 11. Mark Miron is third with nine RBIs.
The Brewers have lost one of their top players, however. Jed Hanson, who returned home after a strong two-year junior college stint in Idaho, recently signed at the University of Nebraska for the remainder of his college career and has been asked to play in a summer league in Nebraska.
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