The Northland Pines varsity baseball team had a game for the ages last week at Lakeland Union High School on May 14 as the Eagles and T-Birds combined for 36 runs in a 23-13 win for the visiting Pines squad.

The two sides combined for 32 hits throughout the night as well. Northland Pines also hosted a home invitational last Saturday, falling in a 3-2 game to Ashland but bouncing back with a 12-2 win over Chequamegon later in the day.

Offensive onslaught

The Northland Pines and Lakeland high school baseball teams nearly overheated the scoreboard from the first pitch, as the runs came early and often late last week.

The visiting Eagles got rolling really early as their starting pitcher, Aiden Minx, led off the game with a home run.

They would add six more runs in the first and four in the top of the second to lead 11-0, but anyone who left early missed a whole lot.
Lakeland answered with five runs in the bottom of the third, but the Eagles closed with an 11-7 run in the last three innings for the ten-run win.

“We hit the ball incredibly well throughout the order,” noted Pines head coach Peter Aerts. “The top of the order has done that all year, and the bottom has been working hard and really broke out tonight. It was a good example of what that means to our team.”

The offensive explosion for Pines was led by Morgan Keranen with five hits, four runs scored and four runs batted in (RBI). Griffin Beyer had two hits, scored four runs and had five RBI. Will Dickman added to the RBI parade and drove in four runs, delivering two hits. Brody Hoeft had two hits and scored twice. Nolan Huelskamp also had a pair of hits and scored four times.

Evrett Leslie scored two runs and knocked in a pair while Jonah Will was the winning pitcher, allowing one hit and zero runs over one and two-thirds innings with five strikeouts and two walks.

Home invite

The boys also welcomed Ashland, Kingsford, Mich. and Chequamegon (Park Falls) High Schools for a four-team tournament last Saturday.

The first game was a very good pitcher’s duel with Ashland slipping by Pines 3-2.

The Oredockers scored an unearned run in the third to get on board first before Beyer’s RBI single tied it in the bottom half of the inning.
In the home half of the fourth inning, Will’s base hit gave Northland Pines its first lead of the game at 2-1 before Ashland tied it at two runs each.

Heading into the seventh, it was still 2-2 when Eli Wickman smashed a double, driving home what proved to be the winning run for the visiting Oredockers.

The Pines’ hitters made some good contact and registered nine hits, but couldn’t turn them into enough runs.

Will and Minx combined for six of the nine hits, having three base hits apiece.

After scoring 23 runs against Lakeland, the Eagles were determined to get their bats going again, and they did so in style, scoring eight runs in the fifth inning of the game against Park Falls. That turned out to be a 12-2 win for the Eagles. Those 12 runs came on nine hits, and both teams had three errors.

Beyer led the team with four RBI and added two hits along with Minx, Will and Hoeft.

The Northland Pines Baseball team has a 14-7 record and is 9-3 in the Great Northern Conference. That placed them in second behind Rhinelander and ahead of Mosinee and Medford, who the Eagles played this past Monday and Tuesday. The Eagles had the Raiders at home to start the week and hosted Mosinee this past Tuesday. Final scores were not available at press time. The Eagles will then travel to face Tomahawk this Thursday, May 21, at 5 p.m.