Spirit Lake opened their baseball season at Sheldon and escaped with a narrow 4-3 win Wednesday evening. Nick Erickson and Levi Davis both were 2-for-4 at the plate, while Mitch Peschong was the winning pitcher allowing three unearned runs and five hits while striking out 11. Head coach Jason Schneider says it was the defense that came through when things mattered most, getting out of a bases loaded jam with nobody out in the final inning. Spirit Lake will travel to Harris-Lake Park tonight, a game you can hear around 5:15 on KUOO Campus Radio.
Speaking of Harris-Lake Park, they opened their season at Sibley-Ocheyedan, and the Generals broke a tie game open in the fifth en route to a 5-1 win. Following an amazing diving catch by second baseman Tucker Herzberg to save a run in the top of the fifth, S-O mounted a two-out rally in the bottom half to score three runs. Ethan Stofferan hit a two-run triple as part of the rally and finished the day with two RBI and two runs scored on 2-of-3 hitting. Jordan Loerts took the win, allowing one unearned run and striking out ten in a complete game. Jake Ihnen recorded the loss for the Wolves despite six strikeouts of his own.
Ray Zalabowski struck out 17 hitters his first night on the hill this season as Okoboji won at West Lyon 7-2. West Lyon led 2-0 early before the Pioneers scored three in the fourth to grab the lead. Zalabowski also went 2-for-4 with a run scored and one driven in. Tate Hanson was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one driven in, while Keith Oskvig had two RBI.
