Miners repeat as Townball Shindig champions

DETROIT LAKES—The Hibbing amateur baseball team had been 6-0 in Detroit Lakes last season, so the Miners were looking forward to a return trip to the city.

Now, Hibbing is 9-0 on Ligers home field after beating Detroit Lakes 6-2 to win the title at the Townball Shindig Sunday.

On Saturday, the Miners beat Bemidji 12-8 and Becker 16-7 in pool play to advance into the title game.

How good have the Miners been in Detroit Lakes?

“Zakk Bandemer figured it out, and we have run differential of plus-75 in those nine games,” Hibbing manager Adam Schafer said. “I don’t know what it is. It’s a hard field to hit in. The outfield has some tight quarters, but maybe we see the ball well. Our offense has been very good on that field.”

Against the Ligers, Hibbing opened the scoring with a three-run first inning.

The Miners had a little motivation to do that.

“We asked if there was going to be a coin flip for home team, but they said, ‘No.’” Schafer said. “That motivated the guys to score first and set the tone for the game. It also helped that their centerfielder dropped a can-of-corn pop up, then we made them pay.

“We set the tone in the first.”

Dylan Hedley led off with a single, then Dane Mammenga hit that fly ball that was dropped for a two-base error.

Gideon Beck followed with a two-run single, then Kodi Miller doubled to put runners on second and third with no out.

Nick Peters hit an RBI groundout to end the scoring.

Hedley, who started on the mound for Hibbing, kept Detroit Lakes scoreless through the first two innings, but the Ligers got one run in the third when Casey Ness walked, took second on a groundout, then scored on a two-out double by Jordan Tucker.

“Their top-four guys can swing it pretty good, but Dylan was getting a lot of weak contact. He had a lot of movement, so there was a ton of concern with the way he was pitching.

“We did need some insurance runs to add to that lead.”

Unfortunately, the Miners went scoreless through the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.

“Their lefty had a good breaking ball that gave us trouble,” Schafer said. “That’s when we started to work counts, and got aggressive on the bases. We manufactured those two runs in the seventh.

“Being up 5-1 is more comfortable than being up 3-1 going into those last two innings.”

With one out in the fifth, Mammenga and Beck hit back-to-back singles, then Miller doubled home Mammenga.

Peters walked to load the bases, then Griffin Dosan hit an RBI groundout to make it 5-1.

Hibbing added one more run in the ninth as Peters reached on a fielder’s choice. He stole second and third and scored on an error by the Ligers’ catcher.

“Getting that run, now they had to score five in the bottom of the ninth to keep things going,” Schafer said. “With the way Dylan was going, we had confidence that he could finish the job there in the ninth.

Detroit Lakes did score once in the ninth on an RBI single by Ness.

Hedley allowed seven hits in his nine innings of work. He struck out five and walked two.

Connor Nelson tossed seven innings for the Ligers, giving up eight hits. He struck out six and walked six. Blaine Henderson tossed two innings, giving up three hits. He fanned one and walked one.

“It was something where we’ve had a lot of success in Detroit Lakes,” Schafer. We continued to be an undefeated team there. They had a good crowd for the championship game, but we wanted to continue that streak, and win back-to-back titles.”

Against Becker, the MIners fell behind 1-0 when Keenan Hjermstad reached on an error that scored Noal Reiter, who had singled to start the first inning.

After that, it was all Hibbing.

The Miners scored six runs in the second inning, including a grand slam by Miller. Hedley knocked in a run with a single, and Beck forced home a run when he was hit-by-a-pitch,

“In their game with Bemidji, they played them to a one-run game, so we didn’t take them lightly,” Schafer said. “They hit the ball well early, so we thought it was going to be a back-and-forth affair.

“Cole came in and threw a bunch of zeros. We didn’t stop hitting, and they did. That’s a testament to our offense in that part.”

The Bandits did score four runs in the second inning to make it 6-5.

Josh Groskreutz had a two-run single, and Mitch Louden a run-scoring base hit. The other run scored on a wild pitch.

Hibbing did add three runs in the third as Beck had an RBI base hit, and Miller added two more RBI on a single, but Becker scored once in the third on an RBI single by Dalton Fouquette to make it 9-5.

That inning ended Dan Wood’s time on the mound, and that’s when Cole Mammenga came in and tossed four-straight scoreless innings.

The Miners took control of the game with a five-run sixth inning.

Ethan Ambuehl had an RBI single as did Hedley. Mammenga knocked in a run with a fielder’s choice ground ball. Peters hit a sacrifice fly. One run scored on an error.

“We had a couple of innings where we put up crooked numbers, so it was a momentum thing on offense” Schafer said. “Everyone was hitting. They had some errors we took advantage of, so we made it snowball on them.

“They got deflated. It was a matter of us finishing that game on defense, put up some zeros and we would be fine.”

Mammenga did just that, giving up just one run in the eighth as Reiter and Groskreutz hit back-to-back doubles.

Mammenga faced just four hitters in the ninth to secure the win.

Mammenga tossed six innings of relief, giving up six hits. He struck out six. Wood worked three innings, giving up seven hits. He walked two.

William Thorn tossed five innings for Becker, allowing 14 hits. He struck out two and walked two. Andrew Kolbinger tossed four innings, allowing six hits.. He fanned one and walked two.

Against Bemidji, the Bucks scored once in the first on a Miners’ error, but the Miners got two back in the second on an RBI single by Ambuehl and a Bemidji error.

The Bucks got three more in the third as Ryan Loewe hit an RBI double, and a two-run double by Dan Clusiau.

Hibbing tied it 4-4 in the third as Peters hit a sacrifice fly, Miller, who singled, scored on a passed ball.

“They’re a solid team one through nine,” Schafer said. “We know that, but once we broke it open, we had the momentum and confidence that we could win that game. When we knocked their starter out, we were in control.”

The Bucks took a 6-4 lead in the fifth when Loewe hit a two-run single, but Hibbing got to Bemidji starter Hunter Brodina in the sixth, scoring six runs.

Cole Mammenga started the inning with a single. With one out, Hedley singled him home.

With two out, Beck walked, then Miller singled home a run. Peters walked, then Dosan singled home two runs. Mike Belich knocked in two runs when he reached on an error.

“That’s when we felt like we had the edge,” Schafer said. “We’ve had some tight battles with Bemidji. We had to get things going offensively to be able to do that.”

Hibbing added to its lead in the seventh as Dane Mammenga had an RBI double and Dosan an RBI walk.

The Bucks did score twice in the eighth on an error and a fielder’s choice ground ball by Ethan Biehn, then they got two runners on in the ninth, but Miller shut the door to preserve the win.

Beck started for the Miners, working eight innings of 11-hit ball. He struck out four but walked nine. Miller struck out one and walked two in his one inning of work.

“Gideon threw 161 pitches, so we rode him for the duration knowing we had to get through 18 more innings. He wasn’t laboring, so we felt good about riding him the whole time.”

Brodina worked 5.2 innings, giving up 10 hits. He struck out seven and walked four. Biehn tossed 1.1 innings, giving up two hits. He fanned three and walked three. Sawyer Nendick tossed one inning.