BAY CITY — The Ellsworth Hubbers and Bay City Bombers got some St. Croix Valley Baseball League action over the weekend despite the sun showing no mercy, bringing 90-degree heat to the diamond Sunday afternoon.

Ellsworth came to play, taking down the Bombers 8-4 off all-around hitting and two solid pitching performances.

“It was a nice bounce back day,” Manager Jeremiah Paulson said a day after the Hubbers’ 6-5 loss to Plum City. “I saw us kind of let that go, and turn the page, and come back today and play hard, play well… Handled a tough lineup pretty well today. Battled the heat.”

The Hubbers jumped on the board right away as center fielder Ben Fischer dunked one into the outfield, second baseman Urban Broadway was hit by a pitch while squaring to bunt and shortstop Drake Flom floated in a single of his own to load the bases on the first three batters of the game. A wild pitch scored one and a Derek Johnson single drove in a second, but the faucet was stopped there.

Tom Kroohn took the mound for Ellsworth and showed up, blanking the Bombers over the first three innings.

“I wasn’t trying to think too hard about anything, just keeping it simple,” Kroohn said. “Pitching and hitting, just have a simple approach.”

In the top of the fourth, Fischer grounded one to third, where Anthony Madsen stepped on third for a force out and attempted to gun a throw to first to end the inning; however, it was not in time, scoring Johnson.

Bay City got on the board in the bottom of the inning, as catcher Thate Peterson whacked a sacrifice fly. Kroohn sneaked out of the inning, escaping further damage despite traffic on the bases.

Ellsworth got their run back and then some in a fifth inning that Flom led off with a single. Kroohn smacked a grounder up the middle that deflected off the Bay City shortstop to the second baseman who attempted a throw to first that sailed into the dugout. Michael Koch roped a grounder to third that took a tough hop for Madsen. He attempted to recover and make a tough throw to first, but a bounce squibbed it by the first baseman and a run scored. Johnson skied an opposite field triple into the right center gap, scoring another. Vinny Oricchio capped off the inning by driving in a seventh run with a groundout, 7-1.

Everyone was hitting Sunday, and Paulson said that is exactly what this roster is going to have to do to string wins together.

“We have to have it. We don’t have a lineup that’s heavy with three or four guys. We need one through nine to chip in,” Paulson said. “Work your way on base, hit the ball here and there, do some little things.”

Bay City threatened a comeback in the sixth in a stretch that featured a few wild pitches and a Max Langer run-scoring single, yet Kroohn navigated out of trouble again to end his day with six innings pitched and four runs allowed.
“Tom’s a good player. He’s got a bulldog mentality on the mound, wants the ball,” Paulson said. “Pretty complete game out of him today.”

Paulson said they wanted to stretch Kroohn for a longer start than his previous appearances this year, and he was happy with what they saw from him.
Crafty veteran James Georgakas then came in for Ellsworth to shut the door with three shutout innings. He tacked on a single and a double at the plate on the afternoon.

“That’s kind of what your plan was,” Paulson said of Kroohn and Georgakas combining for the nine innings pitched. “Sometimes you get to execute it and sometimes you don’t.”

Fischer ended the game in emphatic fashion, coming in on a shallow fly ball for a full extension diving catch and capping it all off by striking a pose with the ball held high in the palm of his bare hand.

“Played really hard and we got a good start and kind of held them,” Kroohn said. “We just hit well. Better than we did the last couple.”

Kroohn said mental toughness helped his squad battle the heat, even if it got to them a bit in the late innings. As they sit at 3-4 in league play around the midpoint of the season, he wants to see some clutch hitting to cement their team into the top half of the standings.

“Keep grinding and, I guess the new term is stacking successes,” Paulson said. “As we start to get into July, settle in on what you want to have for a tournament team.”