International Falls improved to 12-1 all-time against Littlefork-Big Falls on Tuesday with a one-sided 10-0 win in six innings on Parent’s Night at Scheela Field.
The only time the Vikings defeated the Broncos in baseball was back in 1999 during the Section 7A tournament. L-BF won 6-1.
Tuesday’s contest was more about two teams heading in different directions. Neither head coach reported statistics, but when a reporter from The Journal arrived at the game in the third inning (after covering the beginning of the L-BF softball game), the Broncos led 6-0. It was 8-0 after four innings, and Jordan Walls came home for the 10th run in the bottom of the fifth inning to end it.
After losing three in a row in the John Deyak Tournament in St. Cloud, International Falls has now won back-to-back games in as many nights to improve to 10-7. They close the regular season Thursday at Roseau.
Broncos head coach Vic Heinlen expects his team to be in the middle as far as section seeding. The coaches vote on section seeds Thursday morning.
“I expect at 3-3 that we’ll be in the middle of the pack, but you never know,” Heinlen said, noting his team’s record against fellow Section 7AA teams.
“We’ll just have to see what happens Thursday,” Heinlen added.
In Monday’s 11-1 victory over Duluth Denfeld in six innings at Wade Stadium in Duluth, Chris Little tossed a 4-hitter. Ames Bryant and Nick Lagen had two hits apiece, while Jordan Christianson and Little both hit a triple.
The Broncos’ second game of the day at Proctor was called because of fog in the top of the first inning. That contest will not be made up.
L-BF will be seeded No. 11 in Section 7A — the last seed — and face either Mountain Iron-Buhl or Mesabi East, depending on how the week turns out, according to Vikings head coach Doug Henrickson.
Henrickson and the Vikings have endured a tough season, currently sitting at 0-17, according to the Minnesota State High School League website. Henrickson wasn’t even 100 percent sure on his team’s record.
“0 and I don’t know,” he said.
Thirteen of the 17 games have ended with the 10-run rule, according to the MSHSL.
“We just had a tough year,” Henrickson said, noting Saturday’s playoff game will be even tougher as seniors Ross Pritchard, Kyle Burmeister and Tyler Fort all expect to miss the game due to their graduation parties. Henrickson is prepared to bring up junior high players to fill out the squad.
“We try and keep it fun and light-hearted for the guys, but it’s hard when you get 10-runned all the time,” the second-year coach said.
Game notes
• International Falls’ three losses in the John Deyak Tournament came against DeLaSalle (7-4 score), Rogers (5-0) and North Branch (13-4). No individual statistics were reported.
• The Broncos finished the year second in the Arrowhead Conference with a 5-1 record. Eveleth-Gilbert won the conference at 6-0.
• Falls High School grad Jake Casareto (’09) was at Scheela Field for Tuesday’s contest. The College of St. Scholastica freshman, who transferred from North Dakota State University after fall semester, played in eight games for the Saints. He finished 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBIs. He had a double, a triple and was hit by a pitch. He also made the postseason roster. He didn’t play in the postseason, but was satisfied with his year, especially after missing fall baseball.
The Saints’ season, which featured a school record 24-game win streak, came to an end May 20 with a 6-2 loss to top-seeded University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
