HJ Sports Blog

By Matt Kane
Sports Editor
LORETTO — The Loretto Larks ventured outside the North Star League Wednesday for a game against Plato, of the Crow River Valley League, and the visiting Bluejays brought their big bats to Loretto. Plato collected 17 hits off three Larks’ pitchers and won the game 10-4.

The loss was Loretto’s second in a row after falling to Elk River July 1.

The Larks had 11 hits off two Bluejays pitchers, but struggled in coming up with any timely, clutch hits.
Eric Engelmann put Plato up 2-0 in the top of the first inning with a two-run single off Loretto starter Todd Roth, and, after the Larks took a 3-2 lead with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, the Bluejays took the lead for good with two runs in the second.

Both of Plato’s second-inning runs came on a two-run home run by Matt Odegaard.

Odegaard had three hits, including the home run, drove in three runs, and scored three. He started his day with a single in the first inning, and his final hit was a run-scoring single in the fourth.

After Plato took the 2-0 lead in the first, Loretto responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
The first of those three runs came on a solo home run by Eric Schutte. Tyler Maher was then walked by Plato pitcher Sam Sanken and Althoff moved Maher to third with a single. Maher scored Loretto’s second run on an error by the Bluejays’ catcher on a pickoff attempt, and Althoff put the Larks up 3-2 when he scored on a single by Reed Pawelk.

Pawelk finished the night with four hits, including a RBI double in the seventh inning that chased home Nate Triplett.

That seventh-inning run Pawelk drove in was the final run of the game for Loretto. At the time, the run cut Plato’s lead down to 6-4, but the Bluejays kept hitting, and added four more runs in the eighth inning off Triplett to set the score at 10-4. Kyle Panning, Tyler Long and Engelmann all drove in runs with back-to-back-to-back doubles off Triplett.

Mark Ricke finished the eighth for Triplett and pitched a scoreless ninth. He was Loretto’s fourth pitcher.
Plato’s sixth run of the game came in the top of the seventh off Loretto’s second pitcher Matt Kolander.
Offensively for the Larks, Althoff reached base in four of his five plate appearances. He had two singles and walked twice.

Plato 10, Loretto 4
at Loretto
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - R H
Plato 2 2 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 - 10 17
Loretto 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 4 11

Loretto
Batter AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR
Ke. Koch 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
Schutte 5 1 1 1 0 0 1
T. Maher 4 1 1 0 0 0 0
Althoff 3 1 2 0 0 0 0
Triplett 4 1 1 0 0 0 0
Ricke 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pawelk 5 0 4 2 1 0 0
Be. Scanlon 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kane 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Koch Jr. 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ki. Koch 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
N. Maher 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Roth - - - - - - -
Totals 35 4 11 3 1 0 1

Pitching IP H R ER SO BB W L
Roth 5 8 5 5 4 0 0 1
Kolander 1.1 3 1 1 1 1 - -
Triplett 1 3 4 4 1 0 - -
Ricke 1.2 3 0 0 3 2 - -
Totals 9 17 10 10 9 3 0 1