Ely’s American Legion baseball team has its hands full this weekend with four tough opponents in the annual Ely Echo Midsummer Classic.
But going into the biggest regular season tournament of the year, Ely has yet to taste defeat.
Post 248 ran its record to 13-0 with a dominant, July 2 sweep at Blackduck, and then made it 14 straight Tuesday night at Marble, cruising past Deer River 16-1 in a five-inning rout.
At Blackduck Hunter Halbakken hit his first career home run and pitched three scoreless innings in a 16-0, first-game victory.
In the nightcap, Owen Marolt was perfect on the mound for four-and-onethird innings and finished with a one-hitter as Ely prevailed 6-1.
Off to its best start in more than 20 years, Ely was set to tangle with Thunder Bay, Fergus Falls, Aitkin and Roseau in the annual midsummer event.
The Aitkin clash is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Veterans Memorial Field and is one of six games at the ballpark on the day.
The tournament closes Sunday with four more games, with Ely slated to meet Roseau at 3:45 p.m. in what’s been billed as “the grand finale” at the ballpark.
After the game, the field will go dark for the remainder of the year as work begins on a major renovation project that includes a complete resurfacing of the field, construction of a first base side viewing deck and a new concession stand and restroom building that will be just adjacent to the existing third base side pavilion.
That means for the first time in years, Ely won’t have a postseason game at home.
The Division II Northeast Substate Playoffs begin on Friday, July 17 at Cherry, with Ely set to be joined by Proctor, International Falls and South Ridge in the tournament.
The top-two teams advance to the Northeast Substate Final Four, which begins July 24 at Proctor.
“The season goes by quickly and it’s hard to believe we’re talking about the playoffs already,” said Ely Head Coach Tom Coombe. “I think this group got a little taste of it at the state tournament last year and wants to get back.”
Tonight’s home contest with Aitkin could be a Final Four preview of sorts. Aitkin advanced to the state tournament in Class AA baseball and looms as an obstacle in Ely’s quest to get to the state tournament, which begins July 31 at Glenwood.
“Aitkin is going to be a tough team to beat so we’re happy to get a chance to see them and compete with them in our home tournament,” said Coombe.
Other teams in this weekend’s tournament - which is the largest Legion baseball event in northeastern Minnesota - are Cloquet, Viroqua (WI), Tri City Maroon (Irondale), St. Louis Park, Aitkin, Fergus Falls, Roseau and LeSueur-Henderson.
• Ely is rated sixth in the state among Division II Legion teams according to the latest state poll.
St. Cloud Chutes are atop the list, with Montevideo, Le-Sueur-Henderson, Dilworth and St. Charles rounding out the top five.
Grand Rapids is ranked 13th among Division I teams.
• Halbakken’s three-run blast over the left field fence helped ignite Ely, which cruised in its sweep at Blackduck.
Halbakken also worked the first three innings on the mound and lefty Stig Majerus finished up, retiring six straight batters to close things out.
In the second game, Marolt fanned eight but gave up a fifth-inning single to lose his bid for a perfect game.
• Chittum was four-forfive with three doubles and four runs batted in as Ely won easily against Deer River.
Marolt doubled, tripled and had two RBI and Drew Johnson ripped a bases-clearing double off the right field fence.
Majerus, who has yet to allow an earned run this summer, worked three innings, gave up one hit and struck out four.
Both Halbakken and Marolt tossed one inning in tune-up action for this weekend’s tournament.
