Legion sweeps Cook County

A seventh-inning rally sparked Ely’s American Legion baseball team out of its doldrums and on to a road sweep at Cook County Wednesday afternoon.Trailing 7-5 in its last at-bat, Ely scored five times and pulled out a 10-7 first game win.Ryan Potter’s seventh-inning single snapped a seven-all deadlock and was just part of his big day.The Tower-Soudan sophomore ripped six hits in all, driving in four runs in the opener and going four-for-five with two RBI in a 10-4 triumph in the nightcap.Potter raised his average to .393, second-best on an Ely team that raised its record to 10-5 for the summer.“Ryan had some clutch hits and he really swung a hot bat for us all day,” said Ely Head Coach Tom Coombe. “Even though we scored some runs, we didn’t really hit all that well but Ryan came through nearly every time.”Ely built a 5-2 lead in the opener, but Cook County scored three times in the bottom of the fifth and threatened for more until Tim Scott came in to slam the door.The Ely lefty, who came on with the score tied and the bases loaded and no outs, struck out three straight batters to get out of the jam.Cook County nicked Scott for a pair of unearned runs in the sixth, but Ely’s seventh-inning heroics turned the tide.Scott fanned seven in three innings of work to get his third win of the summer.“Timmy really bailed us out,” said Coombe. “We were in trouble in the fifth but he came in without really warming up and got some key strikeouts.”Scott relieved starter Phil Brodeen, who gave up eight hits in four-plus innings.Ely had just six hits in the opener, and the seventh-inning rally was fueled by three walks and two errors.Moberly kept Cook County’s bats silent in the second game, but the hosts still managed to score four runs in the first two frames, thanks to three walks and an error.The rest of the way, Moberly was dominant, tossing five innings of no-hit ball and reaching double digits in strikeouts for the second time this year.Meanwhile, Ely got to Cook County starter Stephen Hahn very early. Run-scoring hits by Aaron Thom, Potter and Jay Olson were part of a three-run first.Scott scored on an error in the second to give Ely a 4-3 lead, and Moberly and Potter singled in runs later in the frame.Olson finished with three hits and two RBI for Ely, which took on Virginia Friday night to begin play in the Ely Midsummer Classic.That tournament continues this weekend, as Ely takes on Chisholm (1 p.m., Soudan) and Hibbing (7:30 p.m., Ely) today and Cloquet (3:30 p.m., Ely) on Sunday.