EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael Achterling is a reserve outfielder on the active roster of the Detroit Lakes Baseball Club.
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DETROIT LAKES — The Carlos starting pitcher stuck out his 17th batter of the night in a 10-1 win over the Detroit Lakes Baseball Club.
The Club's bats managed only one run on six hits during the June 10 game played at Fireman's Field in Carlos. Its one run coming in the second inning on a Noah Borah steal of second that featured a wild throw by the Cougar catcher, allowing Andrew Kulik to score on the play from third.
Blaine Henderson reached base four times in the losing effort, going 1-for-1 with a single and three walks. Joey Price finished the day 2-for-5 with two singles. He nearly scored in the first inning, but was thrown out at the plate on a strong throw by the Carlos right fielder following a Blake Itzen single.
"We ran into a good team and a very educated pitcher, and I think that really got to us," said Brandon Johnson, Detroit Lakes Baseball Club player-manager. "I think we had some guys getting reps that hadn't gotten a lot of reps yet this year, so when you have guys out there getting three at-bats in a game that haven't yet, that's a whole different feel."
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Johnson added it's hard to win baseball games when any team strikes out 17 times.
"But, we did do a lot well on the base paths with the small opportunities we had, stealing bases, hit-and-runs—stuff like that," he said. "We do good small-ball things. We just need to put the ball in play more."
The game was also delayed for about five minutes in the top of the sixth inning as a stray dog made its way through the visiting dugout and onto field unattended. After darting between players of both teams and the umpire along the backstop, the canine-fugitive was eventually corralled along the third baseline by Club third base coach Zack Oistad and Blaine Henderson, while a Cougar player retrieved a leash and escorted the attention-seeking pooch off the field.
Detroit Lakes' Logan Lund was tagged for eight runs, five earned, on seven hits while striking out two and walking three through three innings of work. He was relieved by Johnson, who pitched five innings. He surrendered two runs, on four hits while walking three and striking out five Cougar hitters.
The Club will have a two-week break until its next game.
"We're going to keep going to the drawing board and figuring out what is going to be that nine that works for us," said Johnson. "We have a good club. We have a good team. We just need to find the right pieces of the puzzle to put in the right places at the right time, and we'll look to revamp and come out against Erskine and try that new plan and see if that one gets us the keys to a victory."
The Detroit Lakes Baseball Club's next home game will be on Friday, June 24 versus the Erskine Comets, and sponsored by Woodfire Pizza, who will be running pizza specials during the game, at Washington Ballpark in Detroit Lakes. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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