Eastview Legion Goes 1-1 On First Day At State

American Legion baseball coach Bob Klefsaas didn’t plan it this way, but on Friday he might have come to a realization about his squad at the Minnesota State Legion tournament.

After a 12-8 first-round loss to Minneapolis Southwest in Edina—a game in which the Thunder left 14 runners on base at the plate, walked 10 batters on the mound and made four errors in the field—Klefsaas thought maybe, just maybe, his tournament-tested team likes taking a more difficult path.

“This team is pretty resilient when we’ve lost,” he said after the loss. “They like long road at tournaments. Maybe that’s what they wanted.”

Eastview proved him right on Friday night. The Thunder came from behind to beat Willmar 9-8 in Edina to remain alive in the double-elimination tournament.

Eastview will face Centennial on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Thunder must win six consecutive games in order to win the state championship.

Against Minneapolis Southwest, Eastview took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. But the Thunder quickly fell behind as Southwest scored four runs in the top of the second to take a 4-1 lead.

After tying the game at 4-4 with a run in the second and two more in the third, Eastview fell behind for good when Southwest’s Cole Baker hit a three-run homer to left-center field in the top of the fourth inning. Southwest scored runs in six of the nine innings in the game.

Defensively, Minneapolis Southwest made all the necessary plays and never let Eastview mount a significant rally.

“They didn’t kick the ball around,” Klefsaas said. “They played really well. When we hit it hard, they fielded it. When they hit it hard, we didn’t.”