CLOQUET—There’s something about Thunder Bay that brings out the best in Hibbing bats.
At the Ely Mid-Summer Classic, Post 222 scored 26 runs against the Lakers, and that offensive barrage continued at the Eighth District Substate Tournament Wednesday at Mettner Field.
Hibbing pounded out 14 hits and even though Thunder Bay didn’t go down quietly, Post 222 earned a 15-9 victory in the first-round playoff game.
Hibbing would be playing at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night, and the game wasn’t complete when this edition of the Mesabi Tribune went to press.
Why so much offensive success against the Lakers?
“The guys are picking the pitches they like to see, and they’re putting the ball in play,” Hibbing coach Logan Radovich said. “They threw the ball around a little bit for us that helped, too.
“We capitalized on our opportunities.”
The game didn’t start smoothly for Post 222 as Thunder Bay scored two runs on an RBI single by Chase Imbeault and a sacrifice fly by Brayden Hopkins.
Hibbing needed to answer back, and it did so big time by plating six runs in the bottom of the first.
The first big blow came off the bat of Dakota Kruse, who blasted a two-run home run to get the game tied, then Post 222 picked up four more hits, they used an error to score four more runs.
After a Kaden Augustine double, Luke Nelson had an RBI base hit; Jack Bautch hit an RBI single; Gavin Lamphere hit an RBI single; and Beau Frider reached on an error that brought home two runs.
“Letting up two runs in the first inning killed us a little, but that home run that Kruse hit put us right back in it,” Radovich said. “I told those guys that no matter if we’re up or down, we have to be even keel.
“That home run got the momentum back. It put the wind back in our sails. You have to have big plays like that come tournament time. It was nice to see it on our side.”
In now way did Radovich think that was enough runs, but having that four-run lead allowed him to strategize a little more on the pitchers’ mound.
The Lakers weren’t going to make things easy on Hibbing as they responded with three runs in the third inning to make it 6-5.
Jacob Pacholczak had an RBI fielder’s choice, and Olavi Ojanpera hit a two-run double to make things interesting.
“We had a few mistakes that gave up a few runs,” Radovich said. “We have to clean that up. Ultimately, our bats were the story of the game. A lot of guys had multiple hits, and we ran the bases well.
“That was the key to our success.”
Logan Gietzen, who started the mound for Hibbing, had an easy fourth inning, then Radovich went to his bullpen to save some wear and tear on Gietzen’s arm.
“You have to deal with pitch count, so I pulled Logan a little earlier than I wanted to,” Radovich said. “I wanted him to go the whole game, but if we’re going to make a long run, saving arms will come up big for later in the tournament.
“We had to focus on winning the first game, but we were in a place where we could bring in a few guys.”
Post 222 would extend that one-run lead to five runs with a four-run fourth inning, and they did it with two out.
Lamphere singled with one out, then with two out, Noah Sundquist singled. Dane Mammenga walked to fill the bases.
Kruse lined a two-run single to right-center field, then Gietzen helped out his own cause with a two-run single to make it 10-5.
Post 222 plated two more runs in the fifth as Sundquist rapped out a two-run single, but was a 12-5 lead going to be sufficient enough to get that win?
As it turned out, Thunder Bay scored four times in the sixth to make it 12-9.
Jace Hart hit an RBI single; Dominec Pugliese had a run-scoring base hit; and Imbeault had an RBI groundout. One run scored on an error.
Hibbing had to get back to work on offense, and it did as Post 222 scored three times to take the sting out of that Laker sixth inning.
Jack Bautch hit a two-run single, and Lamphere hit a run-scoring single for his fourth hit of the game.
“That’s baseball,” Radovich said. “Runs can come back-and-forth. The guys were smart at the plate today. We didn’t have too many ugly at bats. We saw pitches. We made their pitchers work.
“We put the ball in play. They made a few mistakes, and we found some green out there as well. It was nice to see.”
Gietzen worked four innings, allowing three hits. He struck out three and walked four. Logan Maxwell tossed one-plus inning, giving up two hits. He fanned one and walked three. Augustine tossed two innings, allowing three hits. He struck out two.
Andrew Bragnalo started for Thunder Bay. He tossed 3.2 innings, giving up nine hits. He struck out four and walked two. Cooper Jacobsen worked one inning, giving up two hits. Struck out one and walked one. Owen Smeltzer worked 1.1 innings, allowing three hits, striking out one and walking one.
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