Esko starts season with mixed results

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The Esko Eskomos are still young on the baseball diamond this spring, but Coach Ben Haugen is optimistic that his team will surprise before the season ends.

“We have some good arms, some strong arms,” Haugen said. “We are young but we hope we can be playing pretty well by May.”

The Eskomos had a rough go of it on Tuesday, though, falling 17-7 at home against Proctor in a game that went the full seven innings. Esko committed seven errors in the field and starting pitcher Max Reinertsen had a rough outing, walking five in the second inning which helped the Rails score seven runs on only one hit.

Reinertsen’s line was odd: he worked 1 1/3 innings, and allowed seven runs, with only two earned, on just one hit with five walks.

“We gave up a lot of bases,” Haugen said. “And the defense hurt us too. But we hit the ball well.”

Esko had 13 hits in the contest and had a 4-0 lead after the first inning, but the Rails turned the tables after that.

Ryan Holte and Tyler Miller also pitched for Esko, but Proctor scored runs in every inning except the first. Holte, Nate Linder and Miller all had two hits apiece for the Eskomos.

Haugen hopes that Tuesday’s game is an aberration. His team won its opener 11-1 over McGregor to stand at 1-1 on the young season after a game against Two Harbors was postponed due to weather.

“We’ve had players out of the lineup early on, but we have four arms who can really throw,” Haugen said.

Juniors Holte, Miller, Linder and Jared Mattson can all pitch, and Haugen is excited over their potential.

They can all throw, they can all throw strikes, and pitch,” he said. “We get [sophomore] John Carr back this spring too, after he missed all of last season with a torn labrum.”

The team has only four seniors in Reinertsen, Grant Johnson, Austin Cossalter and Andy Hendricks.

“We think we can improve and be pretty good in May,” Haugen said.

The team’s next game is Thursday against Floodwood, with games scheduled Monday and Tuesday against Mora and Cook County.

Tags: carlton county, sports