Detroit Lakes never had a runner reach second base as catcher Cole Zierden threw out two runners attempting to steal and when DL tried to bunt a runner to second, Sorum was able to field the ball in front of the mound and threw the ball to Sully Krieger, forcing the runner out at second base.

Zierden led the hitting attack going 3 for 4 at the plate, but the big hits came off the bats of the Sorum twins as Sam led off the 4th inning with a deep fly ball to left field that resulted in an inside the park home run.  Jonah Sorum had a deep double to center field later in the same inning, where the Otters ended up scoring 4 runs. A strong Otter defense kept DL off the base paths and allowed Sorum to cruise through 5 scoreless innings, needing only 54 pitches to complete the game.  The Lakers lone hit came in the top of the third and any threat was quickly avoided when Zierden gunned down the attempted steal of second base.

The Otters continued their winning ways by striking early and often when Carter Thielke stroked a one out double in the first and later scored on a fielder’s choice.  The Otters added a run in the second when two DL errors, followed by a Zierden single, put the Otters up 2-0. Two more DL errors and a walk in the third brought Taeren Holdeman to the plate and when his hit spun down the first base line, it allowed 2 more runs to cross, providing some breathing room in the middle innings. 

The 4th inning was the big inning for the Otters.  Sam Sorum led off with a deep fly that one hopped the left field fence.  The speedy Sorum ran through the stop sign at third but made a slide that brought back memories of Randy Bush in game 2 of the 1987 World Series as he avoided a tag of the DL catcher, diving head first and utilizing his long arm and sweeping his hand safely over the plate, after the throw had beat him by 3 feet.  That play was the momentum boost that energized the crowd and dugout as three more runs would score in the inning when twin brother Jonah Sorum hit a deep double that scored Thielke who had singled earlier in the inning.  

After Sorum made quick work of the DL hitters in the top of the 5th, you could tell the Otters wanted to finish the game in 10 run fashion and get an early start to the 4th of July holiday break.  Connor Johnson led off the fifth with a single, followed by a Sam Sorum walk, a Zierden hit, and a few DL miscues brought Ben Tollerson to the plate. Tollerson drew an RBI walk and with nobody out, the 10th run crossed and allowed the Otters to cruise to the 10 run route over their rival Lakers.

The Otters pounded out 10 hits in the game:  Zierden 3-4, Thielke 2-4 (2B), Adam King 1-3, J. Sorum 1-3 (2B), S. Sorum 1-2, (HR), T. Holdeman 1-3, C. Johnson 1-1.

Assistant Coach Dave Conklin was quoted after the game.  “It is really fun to watch these kids play defense. In a game where the DL hitters put the ball in play, we just kept making the plays behind Sam, who kept throwing strikes.  It’s tough to take a week off right now as we are playing our best baseball of the summer.”  

Head coach Shane Thielke noted that his favorite stat of the game was the strikeout column.  “Our hitters really battled tonight. We did not strike out one time in 30 plate appearances... I am proud of that!  Putting the ball in play puts pressure on the defense and we did that well tonight.” 

Thielke and Conklin are looking forward to when the Otters return to the diamond after the holiday break when they face a pair tough teams, heading to Breckenridge on July 8 and hosting OTC on July 10.    The Otters improve to 12-2 on the season.