DULUTH — Riding high off of their walk-off win from just a few hours prior, the Rock Ridge VFW baseball team did exactly what their coach wanted in game two against Hibbing: swing the bat and score runs early.
Post 1172 scored runs in all but one inning in the contest to take an 11-1 lead on the top-seeded team in the tournament. Post 222 managed to get a bit going in the seventh inning, scoring five runs, but it wasn’t enough as Rock Ridge advanced further into the winner’s bracket Saturday with the 11-6 win.
Scoring in every inning but the sixth, Rock Ridge’s performance was nothing short of dominant. Post 1172 head coach Paul Coombe said confidence was key when it came to taking down the No. 1 team in the bracket.
“We got our bats going early and that’s going to give us a lot of confidence. You put up two runs in the first, two in the second, maybe beat them down a little bit, it worked in our favor. They got down on themselves and it continued to shift in our direction from there.”
Post 1221 co-head coach Tim Zubich said his team was lacking energy throughout and couldn’t find ways to get out of the hole they put themselves in until late.
“We just didn’t compete,” Zubich said. “We just didn’t have the best energy from the beginning. When things started not going our way, we started to fold and that’s not our team. We’ve played and came from behind a lot this year so it was disappointing today. That’s a bad time to not play your best baseball.”
Aside from the energy on the field and in the dugout, the team’s execution offensively and defensively was simply absent according to Zubich.
“Mental mistakes, physical ones, it was everything. Their leadoff guy was getting on every inning they scored. Tip your hat to them. They clutched up and got hits. They got hits and we also had some costly errors, some walks.
“We gotta play better and they played really well. They clutched up and their pitchers threw well. Now we need to play harder and try to live to see another day.”
Finding success early on against Hibbing starter Kadin Augustin, Rock Ridge put up two runs in the first inning, getting things started when Connor Saxhaug singled to center to drive in Owen Hallin, who reached in the leadoff spot after being hit by a pitch.
After Saxhaug was picked off trying to steal second, Aiden Bird got to second anyway with a ground rule double. Then, a single from Jake Coombe was enough to bring him home, putting 1172 up 2-0.
Bird got the start on the bump for Rock Ridge and solidified the early lead for his team, getting three quick and easy outs to move the game along. In the top half of the second, Post 1172 continued to do what they did in the first.
Jaxson Lamppa reached with a one-out, infield single and took second when Rory Scuffy was hit by a pitch. After Hallin flew out to left, Cal Scott came up to the plate and cleared the bases with a shot to left field for an RBI double, 4-0.
Bird gave up a lone hit and a walk to start his second inning but the Rock Ridge defense came up big with one out, recoring a double play when Hallin dove for a lineout and then tossed the ball over to Lamppa for the double up at first base.
Augustin started the third for Hibbing but didn’t escape the inning. Bird walked to start the inning, took second on an error and was joined on the bags by Blake Bailey, also reaching on a walk. That ended Augustin’s time on the hill with Cole Swanson taking over.
With their starting pitcher lasting just 2 ⅓ innings, Zubich said after the game that a number of factors went into the decision to pull Augustin. One of those factors was if they could use him in a future game in the tournament should they stay alive.
“We were thinking a little bit with pitch counts,” Zubich said. “We got a long road ahead of us if we stay in it but they were hitting him pretty hard. They put up two and then two more and were threatening more. We decided we needed to make a change now and let’s see if that helps us. If we stay alive, there’s a chance we can use him again. Time will tell.”
Swanson’s time was turbulent to start, delivering a wild pitch immediately to move both runners over. Caz Carlson then got the RBI sacrifice, driving in Colter Marolt (running for Bird) to make it a 5-0 game.
After Bird faced just one over the minimum in the third, Rock Ridge continued to find success offensively, scoring three more in the fourth. With one out, Hallin singled to center and Scott was walked.
A wild pitch moved both runners over before a single to left field from Bird scored one. With Jake Coombe at the plate, a potential inning-ending out wasn’t meant to be thanks to an error from the Hibbing third baseman and both runners scored instead, making it an 8-0 ball game.
After giving up two walks to start the bottom of the fourth, Bird’s time on the pitcher’s dirt was over with Coombe taking over.
Coombe looked as if he might escape the inning unscathed, striking out Swanson and Aiden Davey, but a walk to Tate Swanson and a wild pitch to Gavin Lamphere allowed the lead runner in, making it an 8-1 game after four.
Rock Ridge tacked on one more in the fifth. Carlson knocked an infield single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Lamppa and then scored when Scuffy singled to left-center, 9-1.
Coombe had little issue pitching the fifth and the Rock Ridge defense helped him out with a double play in the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, Rock Ridge plated two more off of new Hibbing pitcher Keyan Menara. Walks to Coombe and Carlson made way for a double to left from Scuffy, scoring both runners.
Trailing by 10 going into the bottom of the seventh, nothing short of a miracle would save the game for Hibbing.
They had a few things go their way and chased Coombe out of the game, starting with a leadoff single from Blake Kolden. Brayden Rewertz was hit by a pitch and Menara singled to center to load up the bases. Coombe then walked Augustin, bringing a run home and signaling the end of his time on the hill.
Halling came in to pitch with the bases loaded and no outs and managed to pick up a pair fairly quickly, striking out Blake Riccio and Cole Swanson. Hibbing squeezed one last bit of life out of their game with Davey singling up the middle to score a run and Tate Swanson tripling to right to clear the bags, 11-6.
From there, the Rock Ridge defense made the easy 5-3 play on Lamphere to get the last out, earning the 11-6 win.
With his team taking a bit longer than he had hoped to close things out, Coombe said that it was just another mental battle the team needed to work through.
“That’s something you have to work at. You just need someone that can throw strikes in the last inning. Jake faulted a little bit there but Owen was able to come in, throw strikes and get us out.”
The win sends Post 1172 into another winner’s bracket game on Sunday against the winner of West Duluth and Grand Rapids. That game is set for 2:30 p.m. in Duluth. The loss for Hibbing sets up an elimination game against South Ridge that same day starting at 9:30 a.m.
With Bailey going the distance in the opening game of the tournament for Rock Ridge, Coombe said after the game that they expected to use a mix of pitchers to try and get the job done in the second game.
“Everyone knew what we had and we made the best with the arms we had. Aiden started nad pitched real well, Jake came in and so did Owen when we needed him to.
“You have to think about pitch counts in a tournament like this. That’s going to be in the back of your mind. How far can you let a guy go before we decide he’s gotta come out in case we might need him again. For the most part, our guys were efficient today which makes future decisions a lot easier.”
While Hibbing was able to get going at the end, Zubich knew asking for 10 runs to force extra innings or 11 runs to outright win the game was unlikely. At that moment, the goal was to build some positive momentum after a very sluggish start.
“We just wanted to string good at bats together. Go out there, have a good at bat and then the next guy tries and does the same. It was not likely that we were going to score 10 in that last inning but hopefully we could get some momentum going into tomorrow’s game because now we have to turn around and be ready to play bright and early.”
For Rock Ridge, the message moving forward is to keep grinding it out.
“Anyone can beat anyone in this tournament,” Coombe said. “It’s been that way all summer. We know that whoever we get is going to make it difficult for us just like every team has.”
And with Hibbing on the brink of elimination, Zubich says it comes down to how much his players want it.
“The season is up to them. As long as they want to keep playing, then they’ll show up and do it. We need to play with a do or die attitude. We have to keep our composure but also show that we can compete and score runs. We’re capable of scoring runs but this tournament is tough. Anybody can win out there.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0