The Park Rapids Esox amateur baseball team closed out the regular season with an 8-3 Lake and Pine League win over Sebeka Sunday afternoon at Park Rapids.
A five-run second inning sparked the Esox, who earned the No. 5 seed in the Lake and Pine to qualify for the Region 14C playoffs.
Zach Eystad was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a grounder and scored on a balk before Derek Parks walked and scored on Austin Becker's RBI triple as the Esox led 2-1 after the first inning.
With two outs in the second, Eystad was hit by a pitch and Cody Schirmers walked. Both scored when David Dirks' pop fly over first base was dropped. After Parks reached on an error and Becker was hit by a pitch, Dave Mortensen lined a two-run single to give the Esox a 7-1 lead.
Park Rapids added another run in the fourth when Parks singled, advanced to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
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Sebeka ended the scoring with solo runs in the fifth and eighth innings.
Eystad went 2 for 2 with two runs, Parks went 2 for 4 with three runs and Mortensen went 2 for 4 to lead Park Rapids' eight-hit attack. Mortensen picked up the win, allowing two runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts over seven innings. Justin Ryan gave up one run on one hit and three walks over the final two innings.
The win gave Park Rapids a 7-7 record in the Lake and Pine and a 7-10 overall record.
Park Rapids received a forfeit win over Huntersville Friday night and dropped an 18-3 decision at Staples Saturday afternoon in a pair of games against league opponents. Park Rapids was held to five hits at Staples as Jed Ryan led the way by going 2 for 4 with an RBI. Dirks, Parks and Brad Eischens scored the runs for the Esox. Park Rapids drew six walks, but had 11 strikeouts.
Parks started and took the loss as Staples took advantage of seven Park Rapids errors and 21 hits. Staples sealed the win by scoring five times in both the fourth and fifth innings.
