Baseball: Anoka snap's Perham 16-game winning streak with late-inning rally

ANOKA – Despite grabbing a 6-3 lead, the Perham baseball team wasn’t able to hold on as it suffered its first loss of the season.

Anoka (10-8), a Class 4A team, scored six runs in its final nine outs to beat the Yellowjckaets (16-1) 10-6 at home.

Logan Pulju got Perham on the board with an RBI double in the bottom of the first inning. Anoka responded with a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning before the Yellowjackets got all three runs back.

Chas Melvin drove in a pair of runs with a single before Shumnasky gave Perham the lead again with one of his three hits on the night. Mason Schepper doubled in a run in the top of the third inning before scoring on an error to take a 6-3 lead.

Anoka got a run back on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the third. The Tornadoes added two more runs in the fourth inning on a double and a single to tie the game.

In the bottom of the fifth, three-run-scoring singles gave Anoka the lead for good. The Tornadoes added some insurance in the sixth inning before the Yellowjackets failed to make anything of Gage Germolus’ one-out walk in the seventh.

Melvin got the start on the mound for Perham and went four innings. He allowed six earned runs on six hits and struck out seven batters. Pulju suffered the loss on the bump. He gave up five hits and three earned runs in two innings of work.

Along with Shumansky’s 3-for-4 game, Gamble Bye went 2-for-4 at the plate. Perham tallied nine hits on the night as a team.