Fergus Falls suffered a 7-2 baseball loss to Sauk Rapids-Rice on Thursday in a Central Lakes Conference contest.

“Tough night for the Otters,” said Head Coach Kevin Pearson.  “Two innings doomed the Otters as they gave up 3 runs in both the 2nd and 6th innings.” 

The Otters jumped out to an early lead as they scored a run in the top of the first. Ashwin Stratton led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on Cole Knudson’s single to left field. 

After Sauk Rapids plated the tying run in their half of the first, the Otters came right back to take the lead in the second. Brock Kotschevar reached on an error and advanced to second on Michael Maanum’s fielder’s choice. After Abel Aho singled and advanced Kotschevar to third, he scored on Jack Culbertson’s ground out to short. 

“Unfortunately, that was the end of the Otters’ offensive output,” said Pearson.

Cole Fronning led the Otters at the plate with two runs while Knudson and Aho each picked up one hit. Fronning took the loss on the mound. He threw five innings, gave up 4 runs, 6 hits, walked 4 batters, and struck out 5. Michael Maanum pitched the 6th inning. He gave up 3 runs, on 4 hits, and struck out 2. 

“We didn’t do the little things well tonight,” added Pearson. “We didn’t catch the ball like we have been, and we threw the ball around in the 2nd inning. We basically gave them the first four runs they scored.  We are not a team that can afford to do that.” 

The Otters have a busy week next week as they play five games all of which are at home at Legion Field. It starts with Tuesday’s game with St. Cloud Apollo at 5:00pm. St. Cloud Tech comes to town for a double header on Thursday that starts at 4:00pm. Then the Otters will host both Detroit Lakes and Little Falls on Friday. The Otters will play Little Falls at 12 noon. Detroit Lakes and Little Falls will play at 2:30pm and then the Otters will play Detroit Lakes at 5:00pm.