Rockford Rockets Roll Past SLP Orioles

 Saturday morning was Little League Day at Derrick Keller Field and the more than two dozen St. Louis Park little leaguers saw Nolan Perry hit a two run double in the top of the fourth inning and pitched well in relief to help lead the Rockford Rockets to a 7-5 over the St. Louis Park Orioles.  

In the first two innings, both teams scored one run apiece.  In the top of the first, the Rockets run came on an RBI single that scored Alex Altmann and the Orioles capitalized on two Rockford errors and a walk to Kristofer Hokenson to load the bases.  Graham Sullivan stole second and Ben Farley would steal home.  The rockets run in the second came from Luke Pilot's RBI single that brought Aiden Smith home.  Smith hit a one out double.  St. Louis Park evened the score at two after Farley and Jacob Favour walked, followed by Hokenson's RBI single that accounted for Farley's second run.

Altmann would put the Rockets ahead in the top of the third on his RBI single that scored Perry, who reached base on an error by Farley.  

Sloppy fielding by St. Louis Park would add two runs to Rockford's ledger.  Smith reached base on an error by second baseman Henry Odens, Pilot walked and Logan Vicino reached base on Farley's error.  Perry came to bat and hit a two run double to bring home Smith and Pilot.  

The Orioles attempted to bounce back from a three run deficit in the bottom of the sixth as Favour hit a one out single and Hokenson, battling Perry who came in for Pilot in the bottom of the fourth made the most of a 10 pitch at bat with a base hit to advance Favour to third.  Zach Helfmann's sacrifice fly would score Favour and the margin was trimmed to 5-3.  

The Rockets would extend their lead to four in the top of the seventh on Max Hudlow's sacrifice fly that scored Nick Birrebose and Smith drove home Joey Cook with an RBI double.  

Could the Orioles send the youngsters home happy with a walk off win in the bottom of the seventh?  Andruw Vela walked and Tait Myers singled to put two runners on base.  Then Farley hit a long triple to left field to cut the lead to two.  Favour and Hokenson walked to load the bases and Helfmann had a chance to tie or win the game.  But Helfmann flied out to left field and that concluded the game.  

Both teams were plagued by leaving runners on base.  Rockford left nine runners stranded and St. Louis Park left 14, including two innings where the bases were loaded. 

The Rockets improved to 5-6 and host the Holy Family Catholic Fire on Monday, May 9 at 7:30 PM.  The Orioles lost their third straight game and fell to 5-5.  They will host the Wayzata Trojans on Tuesday, May 10 at 6 PM at Derrick Keller Field.  The game was rescheduled from April 30 due to torrential rain in the St. Louis Park area.