In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.
May 30, 1995
By Devlyn Brooks
Monday's Sub-section 8-4 baseball game between the third-seeded Warroad Warriors and the sixth-seeded Lake of the Woods Bears was a tale of "haves" and "have nots."
The Warriors had lots of leadership going for them in their eight seniors and seven juniors. The Bears did not. They had one senior, one junior, and one sophomore on their roster. The rest of the team was either freshmen or in eighth grade.
The Warriors had five times as many runs as they did men left on base. The Bears had more men left on base than they did runs.
In the end, the Warriors had the runs, 16, giving them the win. The Bears did not, 4, giving them the loss.
Taking the mound for the Warriors was Brent Poole. He went the distance, earning the win and only allowing three hits.
Offensively, the Warriors dominated the Bears early, picking up three runs in the first inning. Two of those runs came from the bat of Wyatt Smith who knocked out a two-run homer.
He finished three for four on the day with a homerun, a triple, and a double, missing the cycle by only a single.
"The homerun kind of broke the ice," head coach Brad Nash said. "It sparked the team and gave the kids some confidence."
Confidence indeed. The Warriors picked up another eight runs on six hits in the second inning. Smith and Nick Stodgell both hit doubles. The Warriors saw 10 men come to the plate in their half of the second.
The Warriors had another productive offensive inning in the fourth. They garnered another five runs on five hits. Matt Ulwelling, Kaine Martell, Todd Morin and Poole all hit for singles. Willy Marvin's triple accounted for the fifth hit of the inning for the Warriors.
Some of the leading hitters for Monday's game included Marvin who went two for four, Smith who went three for four and Morin who went two for three.
"They hit extremely well," Nash said. "Most of the year we have relied on our defense to win games. We've really come around at the plate."
The Warriors will now advance to play Bagley on Wednesday in the Sub-section semi-finals. The game will be held in Roseau and will start at 1 p.m. Bagley is seeded second.
"The pitchers are going to have to throw strikes," said Nash, conceding that Bagley will be a tough competitor. "The team who makes the most mistakes will probably be on the wrong side of the win-loss column."
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