Post 60 turns the tables on Post 222

HIBBING—On Tuesday, the Hibbing American Legion baseball team beat Grand Rapids 3-1 in one of the better games Post 222 has played this season.

Two days later, things changed 180-degrees.

Post 60 put up crooked numbers in the first three innings en route to a 10-6 victory over Hibbing Thursday at Al Nyberg Field in American Legion baseball action.

In the process, Post 222 had a six-game winning streak snapped.

“This was one of the ugliest performances we’ve had the whole season, coming off a six-game win streak,” Hibbing coach Logan Radovich said. “That’s not something I was expecting. You have your ebbs and flow with teams, but the guys’ heads weren’t in it.

“We had a tough time finding the strike zone.”

Between three Hibbing pitchers, Grand Rapids worked out nine walks and four of them scored.

“With the walks, then throw in a few errors, tip the cap to them,” Radovich said. “They hit the ball when they had to. Ultimately, we left runners in scoring position again.”

As for Post 60, it was a 180-degree turn of events.

“We got shut down by them, but it was a heck of a ball game defensively,” Grand Rapids coach Bill Kinnunen said. “Both teams pitched well. We came out today, and got hits with runners in scoring position, which is something we haven’t done most of the year.

“In the games we’ve lost, we’ve left a ton of runners on base. I tell the kids that they don’t only lead the sub-state and state with runners left on base, it’s the entire nation.”

That wasn’t the case in the first three innings.

Nolan Svatos singled to start the first inning, then with two out, Alex Wegwerth singled. Riley Matteson drew a walk, then Jaden Lehmberg singled home two runs.

In the second, Oliver Spahn reached on an error, then Joe Dick walked. Svatos laid down a sacrifice bunt that he beat out for a single to load the bases.

Caleb Gunderson, who started on the mound for Post 60, helped out his own cause with a two-run single, then Wegwerth hit a two-out, RBI single to make it 5-1.

In the third, Post 60 did all of their damage with two out.

Spahn walked and Joe Dick singled. Svatos laid down another sacrifice bunt that he beat out for a single to load the bases.

Gunderson hit an RBI single, Sam Dick drew an RBI bases-loaded walk and Wegwerth hit an RBI fielder’s choice ground ball.

“That makes it a lot easier pitching-wise,” Kinnunen said. “Caleb wasn’t sharp like he has been this year, but we overcame it. We didn’t let it snowball on us like we have with young teams.

“A lot of times they get rolling, and you can’t stop it. Nobody steps up. Today, we made pitches, and we made plays when we had to.”

Every time Post 222 made a charge, Grand Rapids was able to respond.

“That was big,” Kinnunen said. “They scored in the bottom of the first, and we scored in the top. They scored in the bottom of the second, and we came back with three in the top of the third.

“If we can keep answering back like that, we’ll be successful.”

Hibbing wasn’t about to go down quietly.

Post 222 answered with one run in the bottom of the first as Noah Sundquist singled and stole second. He took on an obstruction call, then scored when Dakota Kruse’s fly ball was dropped for an error.

Trailing 5-1, Hibbing got back into the game with a two-run second inning.

Kaden Augustine reached on an error, then Luke Nelson doubled. With one out, Beau Frider hit an RBI single. Sundquist hit an RBI groundout to make it 5-3.

That set the stage for the most critical inning of the game, the fourth.

Gavin Lamphere singled to lead off the inning, then Frider and Sundquist drew walks to load the bases with no out.

Gunderson had to bear down, and he did, striking out the next two hitters.

He didn’t get out of the inning unscathed as Logan Gietzen hit a two-run single, but he got another strikeout to keep the damage to minimum.

“We felt fortunate, but it should have only been one if we make a good 80-foot throw from first to home,” Kinnunen said. “We bounced it in the dirt. That’s a young kid getting nervous when the kid comes home.

“I told him he makes that throw 1,000 times. He said, ‘I didn’t think he was going to go.’ I said, “Yeah, but you got rattled. Just play catch. If you play catch, you win a lot of ball games.’”

It was a missed opportunity for Hibbing.

“From what I saw on Tuesday until today, it was a total 180 on our end,” Radovich said. “They hit on Tuesday as well, but I thought we had a good chance of sweeping them. We didn’t have it today. The heads weren’t in it. We felt sorry for ourselves.”

After that, Post 60 scored once in the fifth as Sam Dick scored on a wild pitch, then Grand Rapids added a run in the sixth as Spahn hit an RBI single.

Post 222 would score once in the sixth as Sundquist singled and Dane Mammenga doubled, putting runners on second and third with one out.

Kruse hit an RBI groundout to make it 10-6, but Sam Dick came on in relief to get the final out of the inning.

Jack Bautch singled to start the Post 222 seventh, but Sam Dick got the next three batters to end the game.

Gunderson worked 5.2 innings, allowing seven hits. He struck out five and walked three. Dick gave up one hit. He struck out one.

Kruse started for Hibbing, tossing three innings. He gave up nine hits, struck out four and walked four. Logan Maxwell tossed 2.2 innings, giving up one hit, struck out one and walked five. Mammenga tossed 1.1 innings.

Hibbing now has the Princeton Tournament this weekend.

It’s another chance to start a winning streak heading into sub-state play.

“The way we were playing was great,” Radovich said. “I told the guys, ‘Ultimately, this has to be our last one of these games, or else our season could be over.’ It could be a quick week going into districts.

“I know this team, and the way our season has gone, we’ll bounce back. The few losses we’ve had like this, we bounce back quickly.”