Bats Lead Maple Grove Baseball To State Semis

The baseball team had eight days off in between games, but the Crimson’s bats didn’t look rusty Thursday, June 16 in its Class AAA state quarterfinal matchup with Bloomington Kennedy.

Maple Grove blasted 15 hits in a 14-7 victory over the streaky Eagles at Midway Stadium in St. Paul.

The win sends the Crimson to a state semifinal matchup with either Stillwater or Forest Lake on Friday, June 17 at 2:30 p.m.

Kennedy entered the state tournament as the lone team with a sub-.500 record. The Eagles lost four straight games to end the regular season before sweeping through the section tournament and on to state.

They showed that streakiness on Thursday, June 16 falling behind 7-0 before mounting a four-run comeback in the bottom of the second.

“I was really surprised by them,” junior Brady Jacobs said. “They just never gave up and they kept battling back. At the state tournament, there’s not a bad team here. They had a sub-.500 record, but as you can see the hit the ball.”

The Eagles (12-14) did something not many teams were able to do this season and that’s tag Crimson starting pitcher Mitchell Bauer with runs.

Bauer entered the game 7-0 with a 1.18 earned-run average, but he allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits in seven innings of work on Thursday.

Coach Darby Carlson said Bauer wasn’t getting ahead of batters in the count and his pitches weren’t as sharp as usual against Kennedy.

“He is our ace pitcher, and he didn’t have his stuff today,” Jacobs said. “But that really shows a lot about a kid who can fight back and keep throwing.”

Maple Grove (25-1) did its part to stay ahead.

Junior Roman Collins led the way by driving in four runs—including a two-run single in the second inning—and scoring two more in a 1-for-4 day at the plate.

Jacobs also did his part, going 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored in the game.

The Crimson loaded the bases in each of the first, second and fourth innings and piled on runs early. That helped ensure that when the Eagles began coming back, Maple Grove had some insurance runs to rely on.

“That’s what we like to think about before the games,” Collins said. “We like to get up ahead of them in the first innings. It helps a lot.”

The Crimson have played their last six games at Midway Stadium dating back to the Section 5AAA tournament and they’re averaging 6.8 runs per game in that span.

No question, the offense led them to victory on Thursday.

“We came out here and hit the ball, and that’s what we needed to do,” Jacobs said. “They came out and put up seven runs on us, so it’s good we brought the sticks today.”

GAME STATISTICS

Maple Grove 2 5 4 2 0 0 1 — 14 15 0

Kennedy 0 4 2 0 1 0 0 — 7 13 3

Hitting leaders—Logan Hershey 1-3, 2R; Joe Franta 2-3, 3R; Roman Collins 1-4, 2R, 4RBI; Carl Sorenson 2-4 2R, 1RBI; Brady Jacobs 3-4, 2R, 4RBI; Taylor McWilliams 1-3, 2RBI; Shay Torgerson 3-4, 3R

Pitching lines — Mitchell Bauer W 7.0 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 4 K