Faribault VFW baseball falls to Northfield 6-3

The Faribault VFW baseball team traveled to Northfield Wednesday to take on Northfield VFW Post 4393.

Faribault was looking to win to get back over .500. It started the season 2-2 before going on a three-game win streak. The team then lost two in a row to put its record at 5-4 heading into the game against Northfield.

Ultimately, the home team was able to fend off the Falcons, as the Raiders won 6-3.

Faribault started the game with a single to right field by Ben Cunniff, who was also the starting pitcher. But a double play and a fly out to center ended the first half of the inning.

Cunniff struck out the first Northfield batter he saw in the game, and retired the side in the bottom half of the first inning. The matchup was a low-scoring affair up until the bottom half of the fourth inning, as their was only one run scored between the two teams, with Northfield scoring on an error by Faribault in the second inning.

Northfield took the lead in the fourth after a leadoff triple by Wade Gilbertson. Northfield scored three runs in the fourth and another two runs in the fifth to take a 6-0 lead over Faribault.

Faribault scored two in the sixth to cut the deficit back to four. Ryan Kreager doubled to start off the inning with him scoring later on due to a wild pitch. RJ Wasiloski also scored on a wild pitch to make the score 6-2 after getting on base due to a hit-by-pitch.

Faribault scored one run in the seventh inning, but that wasn’t enough as Northfield closed them out to win 6-3. Ben Cunniff had a solid outing on the mound for Faribault, giving up only one earned run in five innings of work, but four errors by Faribault’s defense scored six runs.

Cunniff also had a good performance behind the plate, reaching base three times on two hits and a walk. Kreager also had two hits, with both of them leading to him scoring to record two runs.

The loss was Faribault’s third in a row, with their record now being 5-5 on the season. They will face off against Rochester Mayo on Saturday in a double header on the road.