Blackduck enters week ranked No. 1 in Class A baseball

The Blackduck baseball team enters this week ranked No. 1 in the state Class A poll as the Drakes own a 13-1 record following last week’s split against Nevis.

Blackduck resumed its schedule Monday against Lake of the Woods and Thursday it will face Cass Lake-Bena at Bemidji State University. The week will conclude Friday at home against Red Lake.

After nipping Kelliher-Northome 7-6 last Monday behind the four-hit performances of Trey Volk and Cody Bergquist, Blackduck split with Nevis on Thursday.

The Tigers, who entered the day 9-0 and ranked No. 15 in the state poll, took the opener 6-5. Bergquist went the distance and was the losing pitcher. He struck out eight and walked three.

Shane Fenske, Volk, Brandon Beck and Bergquist each had two hits.

The Drakes resumed their winning ways in the rematch as Michael Dexter went the route on the mound, allowing only five hits while fanning four and walking three.

Fenske ripped three hits while Nissen had two, including a double.

Cass Lake-Bena improved to 8-3 with a pair of victories last week. The Panthers bounced Kelliher-Northome 12-1 and handed Nevis its second loss of the campaign, 11-6. That decision reversed a 6-5 setback at the hands of Nevis in mid-April.

Chad Wittner was the winning pitcher against K-N and he also belted three hits. Nick Rairdon and Ryan Erickson each contributed a pair of hits.

In the victory over Nevis CL-B spotted the Tigers a 2-0 lead but answered with four in the lower first, two in the second and three in the third. Pitcher Wesley Moe earned his fourth victory in as many decisions.

Offensively the Panthers were paced by Caleb Fisher who contributed four hits and Wittner who belted a home run.

Another five players each had two hits.

CL-B hosted Remer Monday, visits WHA Tuesday, faces Blackduck at BSU on Thursday and entertains Pine River on Friday.

In other area baseball action last week Red Lake earned its first win of the spring when it split with WHA, taking the opener 9-6 but dropping the nightcap 18-10. The Warriors (1-8) also fell to Bagley 16-2 and to K-N 14-2.

In addition to the victory over Red Lake Kelliher-Northome lost 7-6 to Blackduck and 12-1 to Cass Lake-Bena. The Mustangs will take a 4-7 record to Bagley on Tuesday.

Bagley is 6-5 after splitting a pair of games last week. The Flyers downed Red Lake 16-2 but lost 7-6 to Pine River.

Laporte is 1-7 after losing 17-3 to Nevis. The Wildcats will be at Bagley on Thursday and visit WHA Friday.

Cass Lake-Bena split four games last week and was 9-4 prior to Monday’s doubleheader against Indus.

The Panthers split a twinbill with K-N, winning 12-3 but losing 10-9. They also fell 16-4 to WHA and blanked Laporte 7-0.

Blackduck dropped to 1-7 after losing 19-2 to Pine River, 11-0 to Lake of the Woods and 25-9 to Bagley.

The win over Blackduck was one of three registered by the Flyers (7-3) as they also nipped Thief River Falls 5-4 and outgunned Norman County West 14-11.

K-N dipped to 2-6 after splitting with Cass Lake-Bena and losing 14-1 to Indus, 11-1 to Fertile-Beltrami and 13-1 to Northern Freeze.

Red Lake lost 24-3 to Nevis to fall to 0-5 while Laporte is 0-6 after losing 7-0 to CL-B.