Park and old rival East Ridge hooked up in an old-fashioned shootout Monday afternoon, with the host and top-ranked Raptors eventually prevailing, winning 15-14.
The loss dropped Park to 0-3 in the always rugged Suburban East Conference and 1-3 on the season. Park’s last two games have both been 1-run defeats.
Park hosts Roseville (0-3, 0-3) Wednesday, plays at Woodbury (3-0, 3-1) Friday, then hosts White Bear Lake (1-2, 1-2) on Monday, all games starting at 4:30 p.m.
Mounds View 2, Park 1
Park couldn’t get its bats going Friday and dropped a tough 2-1 decision to visiting Mounds View in Suburban East Conference baseball.
Park took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on back-to-back singles by Brett Salmonson and Anson Dockter and a one-out sacrifice fly by Charlie Brooke.
That early lead held up all the way to the top of the seventh when Mounds View pushed across two runs.
Park threatened to tie it up in the bottom of the seventh as pitcher Adam Tait hit a one-out single and went to third on a single by Brooke. But the next two batters struck out and then grounded out to end the game.
“It was a good game,” said Park head coach Dave Darr. “I think we had a lot more chances to score more runs and just couldn’t put the ball in play consistently and get a base hit with guys in scoring position. And ultimately that came back to bite us in the butt.
“They’re (the Mustangs) a great program and they’re going to battle and battle and (we) gave up two in the seventh but we were right there. We had a lot of chances, that’s the biggest thing. I told the boys, yeah, it’s disappointing we gave up two runs in the seventh, but we had a lot of chances where we could have had a three, four-run lead and its different than giving up a couple of runs in the seventh. Doesn’t matter, we’ve got to get the bats going a little bit more, a lot more. We feel we’re more talented than what the bats are showing right now."
Tait had a solid game on the mound, allowing just four hits, no earned runs and two walks while striking out six in six innings of work.
“Adam Tait threw a whale of a game,” Darr noted. “That was Adam’s best pitching performance and that’s really exciting. He’s thrown two very good games. That’s great to see and we’ll keep building off of that and that’s great for him and they’re a great hitting ballclub. He was great and that’s exciting to see.”
Irondale 6, Park 0
Host Irondale blanked the Wolfpack 6-0 Wednesday.
