Legion takes second seed into district play

Ely’s Tim Scott has been one of the area’s most prolific pitchers the last two summers.No northern Minnesota high school baseball player got more recognition this spring that Barnum’s Jake Lambert, who struck out more batters than any prep pitcher in state history.The two finally met on the baseball field last Friday in Esko, and it was Scott and his Ely Legion squad who prvailed.In a dandy pitching duel that included just three hits, Scott got the better of Lambert, who pitches for Esko in Legion ball.The Ely lefty fired a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts as Post 248 scratched out a 3-1 victory.The win was pivotal for Ely, which wrapped up the second seed for the Eighth District Division II playoffs and completed the regular season with a record of 21-8.And for Scott, it was yet another in a series of impressive Legion outings. He raised his record to 5-1 for the summer and lowered his earned run average to 0.61 in the process.“It was a pitching matchup that a lot of people wanted to see, and Timmy more than held his own,” said Ely Head Coach Tom Coombe. “People have heard a lot about Lambert because Barnum was undefeated in the high school regular season, but there’s no doubt that Timmy is a premier pitcher.”After some control problems early on, including five free passes in the first three frames and an unearned run in the second, Scott was dominant. He struck out the side in both the fourth and fifth innings and got three straight outs in the seventh to preserve the win.Scott walked and later scored on a passed ball to get Ely on the board in the third, and Post 248 used “small ball” to get the go-ahead and insurance tallies.Paul Starkovich’s bunt single started the fifth and he moved to second on a throwing error. Scott moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt and Kevin Pope plated Starkovich with a safety squeeze.Ely used exactly the same formula in the seventh. Starkovich again bunted to lead off the inning, and the result was a two-base error. Bunts by Scott and Pope brought him around to make it 3-1.That was all Ely would get against Lambert, who finished with a two-hitter and six strikeouts.“We did what we had to in order to win,” said Coombe. “We struggled against a good pitcher, but we got some bunts down and executed to get on the board.”• Ely now has won at least 20 games in six of the last nine years.