Bone-chilling conditions didn’t seem to bother Ely pitchers.
Despite temperatures that struggled to reach 40 degrees, the Timberwolves’ Owen Marolt and Hunter Halbakken were dominant on the mound in back-toback wins.
Marolt gave up a first inning run but was in control the rest of the way in a 3-1 victory over Mt. Iron-Buhl on April 30 at Veterans Memorial Field.
And on Monday afternoon, Hunter Halbakken tossed four shutout innings and yielded only one hit as Ely cruised 12-0 over Mesabi East.
The Wolves, who also blasted Deer River 17-1 on April 29, are now 5-3 on the season.
Pitching figured to be a strength this spring for the Wolves and that has proven true as of late.
Marolt issued three first-inning walks against MIB, including one with the bases loaded, but the junior righthander settled in from there.
Before reaching the maximum pitch count of 105, he worked five-and-twothirds innings, allowing just two hits and recording nine strikeouts.
Senior lefty Jack Davies finished up and got the fourout save.
Sophomore Grant Chittum singled in a run as part of a three-run first, and that would be all the offense the Wolves required.
Ely pounced early Monday against Mesabi East, taking advantage of walks and errors and picking up a few key hits as well.
Senior Drew Johnson had a two-run single, junior Tyde Brecke had three hits and knocked in two runs, and junior Stig Majerus had two hits and two runs batted in.
On the mound, Halbakken notched six strikeouts on the way to his third win of the spring. Davies worked a scoreless fifth.
The Wolves’ matchup with International Falls on Tuesday was postponed because of cold weather conditions and they were set to meet Chisholm Thursday, after deadline.
• Tournaments are part of a busy slate ahead for the Wolves, starting with two games at Saturday’s Blackduck Tournament.
During the weekend of May 15-16, eight teams will take part in the Wolves’ annual Veterans Showcase.
The host Ely team tangles with Pine City at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 15, and the hosts have games with West Marshall (2 p.m.) and Esko (7 p.m.) on Saturday, May 16.
• Ely erupted for 17 runs against Deer River as Johnson collected three hits, scored three runs and drove in four.
Evan Leeson added three hits with three RBI, Majerus had a two-run double and Brecke finished with two hits.
