ELY- The North Woods baseball team traveled to Ely last Friday with hopes of avenging a pair of losses to the Wolves last season, but Ely hurler Owen Marolt put shackles on the bottom half of the Grizzlies’ order, collecting nine strikeouts in a 9-2 win.
Junior John Warren tried to jumpstart the Grizzlies’ offense with a solid leadoff double to right field, but following a Marolt strikeout, Ely second baseman Hunter Halbakken snared a Talen Jarshaw liner and doubled-up Warren after he broke for third on the hit.
After a scoreless first, the Wolves took command with a four-run second inning. Sean Merriman reached first on a fielding error and advanced to third on a pair of passed balls, and Evan Leeson drew a walk from North Woods starter Jarshaw to put runners at the corners. Tyde Brecke looped a single to left field that scored Merriman, and Leeson and Brecke ended up on third and second. After a pair of strikeouts, Jarshaw loaded the bases by hitting Ben Leeson with a pitch, and a walk to Caid Chittum brought Evan Leeson home. Two more wild pitches resulted in two more Ely runs, giving the Wolves a 4-0 lead after two.
Ely padded their lead in the third when Stig Majerus drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Merriman. Brecke smashed an RBI single to up the lead to 5-0.
The Grizzlies finally drew blood in the bottom of the fourth. Jarshaw ripped a one-out single to right, and advanced to third when a Marolt pickoff attempt sailed past first baseman Drew Johnson. Louie Panichi drew a walk and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. Ceder Holman rapped a sharp grounder to Ely shortstop Chittum, who elected to throw to third in a failed attempt to tag Panichi. Jarshaw scored on the fielder’s choice. When Holman attempted to steal second the throw went into center field, allowing Panichi to score. Holman was gunned down at third, and a strikeout ended the inning, but the Grizzlies were back in it at 5-2.
That was as close as North Woods would get, as Chittum scored in the bottom of the fourth and Drew Johnson, Ben Leeson and Chittum crossed the plate in the sixth to round out the 9-2 win.
Having had Jarshaw and Panichi play for him this past summer, Ely Head Coach Frank Ivancich said his squad didn’t take the Grizzlies lightly.
“Talen and Louie have played with us, and that top of the order can hit,” Ivancich said. “Talen made some nice pitches, and we knew we were going to have our hands full with him. We knew if we just put the ball in play and forced some other guys to make some plays that we’d probably be OK. We’re not a team that’s going to hit a lot of doubles and triples and home runs, which means we’ve got to move some guys over, just put the ball in play.”
Ivancich said he was pleased to get six good innings from Marolt on the mound.
“He threw on Monday and came back today and we got some good work out of him,” Ivancich said. “He did his job.”
North Woods Head Coach Steve Baker was upbeat after the loss.
“I like the fact that we’re putting the ball in play, we’re making plays on defense, and our pitchers are getting better every day,” Baker said. “Every phase of our game is getting better every game we play. Ely has the advantage of summer ball and a huge program, and they get way more time on the field than we do. It shows, but I was proud of the way our guys played. We’re going to take some lumps but we’ll continue to grow, and we hope to be peaking at the right time.”