After picking up eight wins on the mound during the spring, it may be tough for Hunter Halbakken to top that this summer.
But the Ely senior’s first American Legion start showed that he’s not slowing down.
Halbakken not only tossed a shutout in Post 248’s season-opening 2-0 win at International Falls, but he fired a no-hitter as well.
The “no-no” was Halbakken’s first as a Legion pitcher, and was part of a 2-0, 12-5 Ely sweep near the border on Monday.
Those have been the only contests of the summer so far for the Legion team, which has had three other games postponed because of rain or wet grounds.
Ely led Walker 3-2 in the first inning before the rains came June 11, and despite threatening skies Monday, precipitation avoided International Falls.
Halbakken also did a masterful job of avoiding serious contact with the hosts’ bats.
He worked out of trouble in the fourth inning, when two hit batsmen put two runners aboard, and International Falls would have only one other baserunner the entire game.
Halbakken set the Broncos down in order in both the sixth and seventh frames, including a four-pitch seventh to complete both the shutout and the no-hitter. He finished with nine strikeouts on the day.
Ely got the only run Halbakken would need in the fifth inning, when Evan Leeson reached base on an error and scored on a Stig Majerus sacrifice fly.
In the seventh, Ely picked up an insurance run when Sean Merriman was hit by a pitch and later scored on a Grant Chittum single.
Chittum’s hit was just the second off losing pitcher Hayden Swenson, who was solid in defeat while going the distance.
Majerus doubled for Post 248’s only other hit.
In the nightcap, starting pitcher Owen Marolt encountered trouble early and then settled in as Ely erased a 4-1 deficit and rallied for the win.
The winners put the game away with a three-run sixth inning and a four-run outburst in the seventh.
A key blow was a two-run triple by Merriman, who finished three-for-three with two triples, two runs scored and four runs batted in.
Ben Leeson drove in two runs and Cedar Holman scored three times and had a hit. Drew Johnson scored two runs as well.
Marolt worked the first four innings to gain the pitching victory, with Caid Chittum coming on to pitch two innings, and Ben Leeson tossed a scoreless seventh.
• The 38th annual DQ Grill and Chill Classic got underway Friday and continues today with six games at Veterans Memorial Field.
Ely meets Kenyon at 3:15 p.m. and Duluth Lakeview at 7:45 p.m., and closes out the tournament at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, with a rematch against International Falls.
Coming up this week is the Legion team’s annual southern swing with games against Minneapolis Northside (Thursday), Cannon Falls (Friday) and Robbinsdale Cooper (Saturday, June 27).
