Esko VFW went 1-2 in district action last week. Esko lost to East, defeated International Falls and then was eliminated by Virginia.
The game against Ordean (East) was a back-and-forth affair in the first three innings, but eventually Ordean would come away with a 12-7 victory.
Esko gained the upper hand in the first inning with Matt Tengesdal and Sam Nigon producing RBI singles. However, Ordean answered back with three in the second to take the lead.
"We did not roll over and die," said Esko coach Jeff Emanuel. "We put up three of our own in the top of the third again with Tengesdal and Nigon tallying RBIs. We had them right where we wanted them, but things did not turn out that way."
Ordean kept scoring over the few innings and Esko did not answer until the sixth when Ryan Vang picked up an RBI ground out and Tengesdal picked up his fourth RBI of the game.
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"The difference was not errors, because we had only two," remarked Emanuel. "The mental errors...buried us. We showed a lot of heart and we had them a little nervous early on and forced them to bring in their ace to close the game and we still scored two off him."
Against the North No. 1 seed, International Falls, Esko built a 4-0 lead through four innings and it seemed like things were on cruise control until I-Falls put up a five spot in the fifth on four hits, two walks and an error.
Trailing 5-4, Esko answered with four runs of their own to take an 8-5 lead.
"Once again this team showed tons of heart," mentioned Emanuel. "Tengesdal led off with a double, Niko Michaelson got an RBI single, and Jordan Balow and RJ Jubie later in the inning got RBI singles also."
International Falls did manage to cut the lead to 8-7 and they mounted a rally in the seventh that was thwarted when Brett Johnson made the play of the game.
"With the infield in, Brett scooped up a ground ball and forced the runners to freeze and he caught the guy on second base in a hot box," recalled Emanuel. "Brett tagged him and almost got the guy leading off third."
Facing the tying run on third base, pitcher John Green told Emanuel he wanted to stay in the game and Green finished by fanning the last batter to seal the win.
On Saturday, Esko fell 11-5 to Virginia as Virginia scored in the second and then added four in the third, and six in the fourth inning.
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"We could have rolled over and taken our beating, but the boys hung tough," explained Emanuel. "We scored five in the next two innings, but that is all we could muster."
Esko was missing three of their top five hitters, fielders and pitchers on the weekend, but still acquitted themselves well.
"The boys we came to the tournament and played well, and some had to play new positions," stated Emanuel. "All the boys came to play and they played hard with a lot of effort."
