Pines baseball opens season 2-1

The Northland Pines High School baseball team opened its new season last week with a visit to the Woodside Spring Invitational at Mauston, where the team played three games in two days.

On March 31, the Eagles fell 11-7 in a tight contest with McDonell Central.
Later that evening, Pines bounced back with an 11-3 win over Auburndale before completing a very successful trip by blanking the Wright Varsity Red Devils (Ironwood, Mich.) 14-0 on April 1.

“Overall, it was a great couple of days of baseball,” noted coach Peter Aerts. “It was awesome to get so many young players into games; great for their development, and they helped us win two games.”

The Eagles scored two runs in the top of the first against McDonell in the opener but fell behind 4-2 in the second.

Pines crawled back and scored three times in the fifth only to give up six runs in the bottom of the inning to take the loss.

Jonah Will had two hits, scored twice, and drove in a run to lead the offense for the Eagles.

Senior pitcher Aiden Minx gave up one earned run with five strikeouts and six walks.

Junior Ethan Miller brought the lumber in the second game on Tuesday evening against Auburndale. His two-run single in the first inning put the Eagles on the board and tied the game at 2-2.

When he was finished, Miller had three hits, four RBI and a run scored, in addition to a stolen base.

Colin Miller had three of the Eagles’ 13 total hits as they scored three runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings. Meanwhile, junior pitcher Brody Hoeft claimed the win.

“We really hit the ball hard, and I was proud of how we adjusted after the first game,” said Coach Aerts. “Brody and (reliever) Jonah Will were dominant.”
The Pines boys continued their run-scoring onslaught on Wednesday, scoring all their 14 runs in the first five innings.

The Eagles had eight hits, while nine Ironwood errors kept the at-bats going as Pines won big.

Brady Dickman drove in three runs to lead the offense while Miller struck out four batters in three innings to secure the win on the mound.

“I’m proud of our upperclassmen for creating a great team environment that really laid the foundation for our success this week,” stated coach Aerts.
Pines was scheduled to take its 2-1 record to Antigo for a Great Northern Conference game with the Red Robins this past Tuesday. The final score of that game was not available at press time. The Eagles will play their home opener against Jeffers on Thursday, April 9, at 5 p.m. and will be back home against Merrill on Friday, April 10, at 4:30 p.m.