Faribault VFW takes early lead and keeps it close but loses in 6th inning to Red Wing

The Faribault VFW team had started the season winning five of their first seven games. A tough loss where they out hit Albert Lea last Thursday broke a three-game winning streak.

Faribault looked to shake off that loss last week by returning home to face off against Red Wing Monday. The home team once again outhit its opponent, but it was once again defeated.

Faribault jumped out to a quick lead, as Ryan Kreager singled to center field, and then Dominic Erickson got his first of three doubles on a line drive to center field.

Kreager scored for Faribault to go ahead 1-0. Hayden Dillon also doubled, scoring Erickson, to give Faribault a quick 2-0 lead after just the first inning.

Faribault took a 3-0 lead in the second, as Ayden Qualey singled and scored on a Grant Koch single. Faribault played great in the field, keeping the VFW Red Wing team off of the scoreboard.

That would change in the third inning, though, as Red Wing got two runs and then one more in the fourth with solid and timely hits to tie the game.

Both teams scored a run in the fifth, so the game was tied at 4.

Red Wing tore it open in the sixth inning, scoring seven runs, thanks to two two-run doubles, a two-run triple, and a run-scoring error.

Dominic Erickson, a freshman on the varsity team during the school year, collected three hits in four at bats, all three doubles. Ryan Kreager went 2-4 and scored one run. Faribault VFW had 14 hits in all.

Starting pitcher Carter Quinlan kept Faribault in the game, pitching five complete innings, but in the sixth inning, Ryan Kreager came in to pitch, and with a combination of timely hitting and some bad luck, Red Wing put up the seven runs to pull away for good.

Faribault did get two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it 12-6, but it wasn’t enough to get back in the game.

Faribault VFW will go on the road for four games with a 5 p.m. game Wednesday at Northfield, a doubleheader at Rochester Mayo Saturday, and a game at Waseca next Wednesday. They return to Bell Field on Sunday, July 14 for a doubleheader against the Rochester Century Panthers VFW.