EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael Achterling is a reserve outfielder on the active roster of the Detroit Lakes Amateur Baseball Club.
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DETROIT LAKES — With three losses over weekend, the Detroit Lakes Baseball Club finished its inaugural regular season with a 3-8 record as part of the Red River Amateur Baseball League.
The Midway Snurdbirds defeated The Club 15-5 at Washington Ballpark on July 22 before the Hawley Hawks and Dilworth Raildogs beat The Club in an away-home doubleheader on July 24, with the scores of 16-8 and 12-2, respectively.
These games showed how costly errors and not being able to hit with runners on-base can put teams behind, said Brandon Johnson, The Club's player-manager.
"This weekend was a good, humbling, put-us-in-check kind of experience," said Johnson. "We ran into some really good teams that are playing well right now. Midway is always solid. Hawley is playing hot at the right time after kind of a rough go, so it's fun to see them playing hot. And lastly, Dilworth, which of course is the number two team in the league, and aside from when they played Ada, they are undefeated in league play."
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Detroit Lakes' Casey Ness led the offensive effort in Hawley, finishing the game 4-for-6 with two runs scored and an RBI. Johnson and Blaine Henderson also contributed three hits each in the Hawley loss.
The Club's Jon Tolbert threw 124 pitches, 74 for strikes, against Hawley, but was tagged for nine earned runs on13 hits in five and 1/3 innings, while striking out four.
In the home regular season finally against Dilworth, The Club managed two runs on five hits. Detroit Lakes committed three errors in a 12-2, mercy-ruled loss in seven innings. Zack Oistad provided the largest offensive jolt for The Club in the game with a solo home run to deep left field, his first home run of the year.
Johnson thought Henderson pitched really well against Dilworth, even though it may not be reflected on the stat sheet.
"It's frustrating overall when you look at his numbers sometimes because it's a guy who's pitching record is 0-3 on the year, but he has faced our toughest competition and been put into tough situations in tough games," Johnson said. "I feel that I say this with all of his pitching performances, but despite the numbers, he pitched very well. He's young, and he's learning what it takes to step up and pitch at this level versus varsity and legion level, and how much more sharp you have to be to be successful."
Johnson also said, even though some of the results weren't what they hoped for, he noticed each player on the team improve throughout the season, which is exactly what you want to see as a manager.
"Everyone has gotten much better throughout the course (of the season), and it has just been fun to see," said Johnson. "From number one all the way through number 19 on our roster, everyone improved in all facets of the game."
Henderson finished the regular season with a .375 batting average, amassing 15 hits across 40 at-bats. He also led the team with nine runs scored, eight walks and two stolen bases. On the mound, Henderson struck out 21 batters across 22 innings pitched and finished the season 0-3 with a 4.14 earned-run-average.
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Ness compiled a .324 batting average with 12 hits across 37 at-bats. He also scored six runs and had three RBIs.
"Captain (Casey Ness) is cap for a reason," said Johnson. "The guy puts the ball in play very often, he gets on, and he's just reliable. He impossible not to have in there."
Johnson, himself, finished the season with a 2-0 record on the mound. He struck out 25 batters in 21 and 1/3 innings pitched. He finished the season with 2.63 earned-run-average and threw a 197-pitch, 11-inning, complete game win against the Erskine Comets, The Club's only complete game pitching performance of the year.
Next year, The Club hopes to see some new and familiar faces once baseball season comes around again, Johnson said.
"Each of our nights at the ballpark, from Schiller's House Night to Pemberton night, each brought different things to the ballpark, it was just huge for us," he said.
Johnson added he expects some turnover with The Club roster due to life events and other various reasons during the off-season, but thinks, overall, the first full regular season of amateur baseball for The Club was a monumental success for Detroit Lakes.
The Club hit the road to face the Marble Mallards in Grand Rapids on Sunday, July 31 for its first playoff game. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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