By Joey Hudson
The Northfield River Rats hosted the Rosemount Irish at Dundas Memorial Park on Tuesday, July 11th for their final home game of the season. Spencer Mellgren started on the mound for the River Rats opposite Rosemount’s Carson Blume.
Close Game Falls Irish Way
Rosemount got on the board in the top of the third. The inning started when Corey Sell singled on a line drive past the shortstop. Sell was out at second when Cam Richardson reached on a fielder’s choice putting a runner on first with two outs. After the next batter walked, Jake Schimmel hit a line drive single up the middle to put the Irish up, 1-0. Mellgren struck out the next batter he faced to end the inning
The Irish threatened to score again in the top of the fourth, led off by a Carson Blume single, who was out at second on a Ryan Jeffery fielders choice. Jeffery moved to second when Corey Sell walked, however, Jeffery was thrown out trying to swipe third on a ball in the dirt. Rosemount started the sixth with back-to-back singles from Carson Blume and Tyler Roth. After Blume moved over to third on a pop out to right field and came around to score when Corey Sell hit a sacrifice fly to center field, increasing the Irish lead to, 2-0.
The River Rats entered the bottom of the seventh down by two with Tegan Mellgren leading off. Mellgren was hit by the first pitch thrown to him and came around to score when Gabe Heinritz ripped a double to the wall in left-center, cutting the deficit to, 2-1. After Kyan Rauk hit a sacrifice bunt to move Heinritz to third, Blume struck out Gavin Novotny for his seventh strikeout of the game. Blume was relieved by Ty Hansen with two outs and a runner on second to close out the game. On a full-count pitch to Jake Geiger, Hansen got Geiger swinging to end the game, giving the Irish a 2-1 win over the River Rats.
What’s Next?
The River Rats will play twice more this week, in New Prague on Wednesday and in Burnsville on Thursday. Stay up to date with all Northfield activities by heading over to NorthfieldLive.com and following us on social media @NorthfiedLive.