Wolves run into hot competition

Ely’s slumping high school baseball team couldn’t catch a break in its schedule last week.The Timberwolves met two of the area’s better teams just as they were looking to snap a losing streak, and both Silver Bay and undefeated Hermantown extended the Wolves’ woes.The Mariners rallied from a 7-2 deficit and prevailed 12-7 in a May 6 game at Veterans Memorial Field. The next afternoon, Hermantown took advantage of 10 Ely errors on the way to a 12-3 victory.“We’re struggling,” said Ely Head Coach Frank Ivancich. “We can’t throw the ball around like we have. We have to cut down on the errors. With the competition we’re playing, we can’t afford to have eight errors a game and win.”Everything seemed to be going Ely’s way early on against Silver Bay.After falling behind 2-0, the Wolves (2-6) warmed up their bats and scored seven straight runs. Matt High and Tim Scott both had two-run singles as part of a four-run second frame. And in the third, Paul Starkovich continued to swing a hot bat and launched his first home run of the season, a two-run blast that easily cleared the left field fence. Tyler Willis later added a sacrifice fly to make it 7-2.It didn’t take long for Silver Bay to respond. The Mariners belted out seven hits, four for extra bases, and rallied for seven runs in the fourth inning.Ely errors led to unearned runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh stanzas and the Mariners (8-3) pulled away.Winning pitcher Nate Breden slammed the door on the Wolves, tossing four innings of scoreless relief and notching four strikeouts.Nick Furnstahl was tagged with the pitching loss for Ely, and teammates Starkovich and Chris Erickson worked in relief.Starkovich, Furnstahl and Ben Povhe all had two hits at the plate for Ely.Two top pitchers dueled when Ely met Hermantown, but the Wolves’ Tim Scott was doomed by defense in his matchup with the Hawks’ Codie Chesney.Ely committed a season-high 10 errors, and Scott gave up just two earned runs.It was 1-1 after three innings, with Scott scoring Ely’s run on a groundout by Povhe, but Hermantown took charge in the fourth.Two errors gave the Hawks an opportunity, and they pounced with three unearned runs.Hermantown broke the game open with a two-run fifth and a four-run sixth.Ely was held without a hit until the seventh, when Furnstahl, Jay Olson and Kevin Hartshorn had hits in a two-run uprising.Chesney finished with 12 strikeouts as Hermantown, ranked third in AA, improved to 11-0.The Wolves’ game with Chisholm was washed out Monday night, and they hosted Virginia Friday to kick off a pivotal stretch of the season.After a Saturday doubleheader in Duluth, the Wolves are back home for home games with Mt. Iron-Buhl (Monday) and Mesabi East (Tuesday). Both Arrowhead Conference contests will be played under the lights at Veterans Memorial Field, starting at 7 p.m.Ely goes into the hectic stretch in search of some consistency.“The kids are playing hard and working hard,” said Ivancich. “We just have to get better and as the season goes on we will. It’s been a tough learning experience. Right now we have got to find some people who can do the job and we’re still searching for that right now, putting the right people in the right spots to fill the holes that we have.”