HIBBING—It took the Hibbing amateur baseball team a couple of innings to get going, but the Miners laid claim to the No. 2 seed in the Northwest Border playoffs.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Hibbing erupted for eight runs and never looked back en route to a 13-2, seven-inning, 10-run rule victory over Roseau Saturday at Al Nyberg Field.
The victory extended the Miners winning streak to nine games, and they will now host Warrorad in the Northwest Border playoffs in a best 2-out-of-3 series, which begins next Friday.
“We had this as the end goal, to get that No. 2 seed,” Hibbing manager Adam Schafer said. “It sets up nicely for us as long as those two games next weekend, it sounds like it might be Warroad.
“In terms of the bracket, if we get past that series, we’ll be playing the Red River No. 3 seed in the first round of the Region 10C Tournament rather than playing a higher seed.”
Hibbing got off to a slow start, however, as the Royals loaded the bases with one out.
Isaac Wensloff walked, then Nathan Voll singled. After a strikeout, Danny Wensloff singled to fill the bases.
Alex Quinones had an RBI base hit, but Hbbing pitcher Matt Erickson escaped further damage by getting a strikeout and flyout.
“It took Matty a couple of batters to get loose and get into it,” Schafer said. “We weren’t particularly sharp on defense either, so that didn’t help. Obviously, you minimize the damage there with one.
‘We threw up a lot of zeros the rest of the way.”
The Miners left two guys in the first, then the MIners left one on base in the second as they couldn’t get anything going against Royals starting pitcher Tyler Bjerk.
“It was getting that timing down on that pitcher,” Schafer said. “Once we had that curveball timed up, we were able to have a lot of good barrel contact on that.”
That changed in the third as Dylan Hedley and Joe Lescarbeau both singled. After a flyout, Kodi Miller walked to load the bases.
Hedley scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-1.
It didn’t take long for Roseau to retake the lead as Cooper Flaig reached on an error in the fourth.
Lane Gerber, who came on relief in the third, got the next two hitters out, but Flaig did advance on a groundout.
Isaac Wensloff hit an RBI single to make it 2-1.
“In those first three innings, we were laying in the weeds,” Schafer said. “We had six or seven left on base, so it felt like a matter of time. That kid had a good curveball that kind of had us off balance.
“Once we timed him up, we had that explosion in the fourth. We capitalized on those runners in scoring position.”
The Miners came out of the weeds and attacked the Royals on offense, sending 12 hitters to the plate in the fourth inning, and scoring eight runs to take a 9-2 lead.
It all started when the eighth- and ninth-hitters, Mike Belich and Jaiman Lamphere were hit by a pitch and walked, respectively.
“The hit by pitch and a couple of walks, that sets the table for the middle,” Schafer said. “It was our eighth and ninth guys, then we rolled it over to the top, and they did what they’ve done all summer, hit the ball hard.”
Hedley singled to load the bases. Lescarbeau singled home two runs to make it 3-2, then Gideon Beck hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2.
Kodi Miller drew a walk, then the biggest hit of the inning came off the bat of Nick Peters.
Peters, who had struck out in his first two at bats, delivered a two-run base hit to put Hibbing up by four, 6-2.
Peters didn’t let those two at bats influence him whatsoever in his third trip to the plate.
“Every AB is a new AB,” Peters said. “I’ve had my fair share of struggles, but that’s baseball. Nobody wakes up and wants to struggle, but you go up there with a clear mind and clear head.
“There’s positives out of everything. I took the positives out of those two strikeouts. I was aggressive. I was a little over aggressive on some swings, but I moved up in the box and took away that curveball.
“I just stuck my bat out there, hoping. “At that point, I’m just shortening up, winding out and looking for a poke.”
After that, Kyler Miller singled. That was followed by an RBI base hit by John Wengenroth. Belich followed with an RBI double to end the rally.
More importantly, Hibbing followed that inning up by sending nine hitters to the plate in the fifth inning, scoring three more runs to make it 12-2.
Lescarbeau picked up his fourth hit of the game to start the inning. With one out, Kodi Miller doubled Lescarbeau home. Peters reached on an error. With two out, Wengenroth doubled home two runs.
“We extended it,” Schafer said. “Defensively, we were able to get out and get another zero there. We were able to extend that to that 10-run situation. Any time you have a lead like that and you can extend, that’s important.”
In the sixth, Kodi Miller doubled with two out, then Peters got his second hit of the game, an RBI single to make it 13-2.
“I felt really, really, really good,” Peters said. “It was super awesome. My teammates have been hot so I go up there and not put too much pressure on myself. I have eight other guys behind me that have been swinging the bat well.
“It was a blessed day. It was a blessed game. It’s a blessed team.”
Gerber did his job on the mound as he gave up three hits in the final three innings as the game ended after seven innings due to the 10-run rule.
Erickson worked two innings, giving up four hits. He struck out four and walked one. Gerber gave up five hits, struck out five and walked two.
Bjerk tossed 3.1 innings, giving up seven hits. He struck out four and walked five. Izyk Strege tossed 2.1 innings. He allowed 10 hits.
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