Rangers back to state tournament for first time since 2017
The Forest Lake baseball team is headed back to the Class AAAA state tournament for the first time since 2017 after winning the Section 7AAAA title over Anoka on Thursday, June 6. The Rangers ended the regular season campaign with a two-game winning streak and extended that streak over to when it mattered most throughout the section tournament.
“We talked all year about pitching and defense being our forte – and it certainly showed up for us throughout the whole section tournament,” head coach Kale Henry said. “Along with that, I think we executed better at the plate, we had good at-bats, put down good bunts when we needed to, we had some guys create and manufacture runs – that’s good team baseball and that’s why we were able to get through that section.”
The No. 4 seeded Rangers ultimately went on to record consecutive wins to reach CHS Field, the accustomed site of the Minnesota state baseball tournament, by defeating No. 5 seeded Duluth East (4-3) on Wednesday, May 29, upsetting No. 1 seeded Andover (12-2) on Thursday, May 30, before beating No. 7 seeded Anoka in back-to-back games to clinch the Section 7AAA championship. It was a goal that Henry had in mind prior to the start of the 2024 season.
“I’m just happy for our kids – they’ve worked so hard and have been preparing for this moment the whole season,” Henry said. “To see it come to fruition at the section tournament where everything just came together was a real satisfying thing. We are super excited for the boys to have this experience and to have an opportunity to play at CHS Field – it’s something they won’t ever forget.”
Following the Rangers’ win over the Greyhounds in the quarterfinals, the boys took on the top-seeded Andover Huskies on the road to begin the second round. The defense of Forest Lake stood tall throughout the entirety of the ballgame: The squad totaled nine strikeouts on seven hits and gave up just two runs, a notable feat given Andover’s impressive resume this season. Henry went into detail regarding what exactly got his Rangers prepared and fired up for the contest.
“I don’t know if there’s one thing – you can’t put your finger on it. But whenever we have Keenan [Bjork] on the mound, we always have a chance to win. So I think that helped us out a lot in that regard,” Henry said.
“We got on their pitchers early and got a lead, which we preach all the time on how important that is for us, because it allows us to do things that we like to do. We get to play our game. We thankfully had an opportunity to do that, and the kids swung the bats really well that day.”
Battles vs. Anoka
As the Rangers stayed alive in the section tournament, the boys then faced Anoka, a team that also made some upsets along the way. The Tornadoes knocked off No. 2 seeded Coon Rapids 6-0, before beating No. 6 Blaine by way of a 3-1 final score to set up a Section 7AAAA semifinal matchup with the Rangers.
Forest Lake won by way of a 3-0 shutout on June 1, as the group had ample time off thanks to weather delays to prepare for whomever they would face in the 7AAA title game on Thursday, June 6. Anoka went on to win the elimination bracket, paving the way for a rematch in a game to go to state.
When asked if there was any uncertainty surrounding the rematch, Henry said, “It’s section baseball – so every game is going to be close.
“We had beaten them at the end of the regular season, and we had to remind our kids that it means nothing as of now; it doesn’t mean anything as we head into it. It’s not just in our section but in other sections across the state – all of these games are going to be close, so we knew we had to play well.”
The boys indeed played well – well enough to defeat Anoka in shutout fashion for the second time in a row by way of a 2-0 final score for the right to represent Section 7AAAA at the state tournament.
“We had a good game plan, we knew what we wanted to do. The coach (from Anoka) and I are really close and are good friends – we’ve coached against each other for a long time now – so there weren’t going to be any secrets about how we were going to manage the game,” Henry said.
“It came down to the kids making plays and doing the little things as well in order to win those big games.”
State outlook
Forest Lake enters the Class AAAA tournament seeded as a random draw, where the Rangers will face one of the top teams in the state in No. 2 seeded Farmington at CHS Field on Thursday, June 13, at 10 a.m. With a win, the boys would advance to the semifinals the following day at 12 p.m. to face the winner of a matchup between Eastview and the No. 3 seed in East Ridge.
“We don’t know a ton about them, but from what I’ve been able to gather, they’re going to play a lot like the way we play, pitching and defense,” Henry said.
“They’ll play some small ball, they have good team speed. Our goal is going to be to limit free bases, and to execute offensively to generate some runs as we’ve done to see if we can get a lead on them and see how they respond. The pressure is on them as the No. 2 seed – we’re going to come in and play loose and play free and easy, and go and have some fun.”
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