COTTAGE GROVE — Playing its fifth game in seven days, the Stillwater baseball team cruised to a 7-2 Suburban East Conference victory over the Wolfpack on Wednesday, May 15 at Park High School.
The victory keeps the Ponies (12-4 SEC, 14-4) in position to claim the conference title with just two games remaining. The Ponies travel to Cretin-Derham Hall on Friday, May 17 and then close out the regular season at Irondale (2-14, 4-14) on May 20.
East Ridge (12-4, 13-4) also features four SEC losses with two remaining to join the Ponies with a two-game lead over Cretin-Derham Hall (10-6, 10-6), Mounds View (10-6, 11-6) and Woodbury (10-6, 10-7).
The Ponies have won five conference championships in the last six seasons.
“I think overall we’re playing well,” Ponies coach Mike Parker said. “Our bats have definitely come alive the last two weeks. We just ran into one game where we didn’t hit again, which happened to be against Woodbury a second time, but we’ve had really good offensive games.
“I’m really happy with the way we’re playing. It’s baseball so you’re going to have an off day, but we have two games left and hopefully those can be well-played games.”
The coach is pleased the team is in the position it is while playing in the most challenging conference in the state. Five of the league’s teams have been ranked among the top eight in Class AAAA most of the season.
“It’s only good teams,” Parker said. “At the beginning of the year you don’t know which ones would be there, but to kind of have a chance to control our own fate here is pretty nice. It’s always been a goal of our coaching staff to try and have our kids have a chance to win the conference in the last week and it’s even better when you’re in control of that and don’t need help from someone else.
“It’s such a good conference and you have to play well day in and day out. That’s why that conference title is so important to us, it shows what you do over an 18-game stretch. They are able to get up for each and every game.”
Karson Foster was effective on the mound for Stillwater while allowing two earned runs on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts in the victory over Park. He notched the team’s first seven-inning complete game of the season.
“Karson pitched a really nice game for us tonight,” Parker said.
Luke Adams delivered three hits, including a double, to finish with two RBIs while Blake Vanek singled and tripled to drive in two more runs to lead the Ponies at the plate.
Stillwater 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 — 7 8 1
Park 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 8 1
WP: Karson Foster 7-ip, 8-h, 2-r, 2-er, 2-bb, 3-so
LP: Nolan Rolf 4-ip, 4-h, 5-r, 4-er, 1-bb, 4-so
Leading hitters: St, AJ Levy 1x4 (RBI), Luke Adams 3x4 (2B, 2 RBI), Charley Rowan 1x3 (RBI), Blake Vanek 2x4 (3B, 2 RBI) and Joe Fredkove 1x3; Par, Anson Dockter 1x4, Max Kaplan 2x2 (2B), Brett Salmonson 1x3 (RBI), Luke Hatano 2x3 and Justin Waterman 2x3 (RBI).
Stillwater 10, Forest Lake 0 (5)
At Oak Park Heights, the Ponies celebrated Senior Night with a 10-0 victory over Forest Lake on Monday, May 13 at Stillwater Area High School.
Facing a team it defeated 1-0 earlier this season, the Ponies had an easier time in this one while racking up 11 hits in the five-inning game.
Alex Boston limited the Rangers (6-10 SEC, 7-10) to just three hits and did not walk a batter in the complete game.
He also received plenty of offensive support from AJ Levy and Charley Rowan, who each collected three hits. Levy drove in two runs while Rowan drove a triple among his three hits while finishing with four RBIs.
“Our hitting has been contagious and we’ve been starting to get some hits throughout the lineup,” Parker said. “That’s the strength of our team is having hitters one through nine that can do damage.”
Stillwater invoked the mercy rule after scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth. Pinch hitter Mateo Rodriguez’s double to right field with two outs plated Ephram Lanz with the final run.
The walk-off hit was a nice reward for Rodriguez, a senior who has remained patient despite limited opportunities with a deep lineup this season.
“He’s a really good player,” Parker said. “He just happens to be a guy who has to be a role player for us, but the guys are ready and they work hard. All of the other kids know he deserves it. I wish we were playing 15 on 15 because I don’t think anybody could match up with our 15.”
Forest Lake 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 1
Stillwater 2 3 0 2 3 — 10 11 1
WP: Alex Boston 5-ip, 3-h, 0-r, 0-er, 0-bb, 1-so
Leading hitters: St, AJ Levy 3x3 (2 RBI), Luke Adams 1x2 (3B, RBI), Mateo Rodriguez 1x1 (2B, RBI), Charley Rowan 3x3 (3B, 4 RBI), Blake Vanek 1x3, Owen Maslowski 1x2 and Ty Schroeder 1x1 (RBI).
Woodbury 3, Stillwater 1
At Minnetonka, the second of three games as part of the inaugural Baseball Day Minnesota, the Ponies were limited to just two hits in a 3-1 conference loss to Woodbury on Saturday, May 11 at Veterans Field.
Two of Stillwater’s four conference losses this season have come against the Royals, who also defeated the Ponies 1-0 on April 17.
Woodbury’s Jack Gessner walked just two batters and finished with nine strikeouts in the complete game. He also limited the Ponies to just two hits and one walk with nine strikeouts in six innings during the victory earlier this season.
“We just weren’t able to really do anything,” Ponies coach Mike Parker said. “It was the same pitcher we lost to the first time, but we think we can get him if we face him again.”
Charley Rowan singled in the third inning to drive in Stillwater’s only run of the game.
Alex Oehlke was sharp for the Ponies while holding Woodbury scoreless until the sixth when they pushed three runs across to take the lead.
Woodbury started the inning with two hits and scored the first run after a single by Tommy Dittrich after a close play at the plate that was followed by a lengthy discussion by the umpires to sort out the play. The catcher dropped the ball after a collision at the plate and he was ruled safe after conferring about whether the runner initiated contact or was blocked from the plate.
Tommy Kroohm then dropped a double down the left-field line with two outs that pushed two more runs across.
It was a disappointing loss, but a positive experience to participate in Baseball Day Minnesota, which included two other competitive games with some of the top teams in the state. The players received hooded sweatshirts and a few other mementos from the event, which was supported by the Minnesota Twins Community Fund.
“It was done really well,” Parker said. “With the teams that were playing there was a lot of people who came for all three games and the kids got some special swag and stuff like that. It was a good thing for high school baseball and it was nice being part of the first one.”
Stillwater 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 2 0
Woodbury 0 0 0 0 0 3 x — 3 4 0
WP: Jack Gessner 7-ip, 2-h, 1-r, 1-er, 2-bb, 9-so
LP: Alex Oehlke 5 2/3-ip, 3-h, 3-r, 3-er, 3-bb, 3-so
Leading hitters: St, Charley Rowan 1x3 (RBI) and Jack Runk 1x3 (2B); Wo, Lucas McNellis 2x3, Tommy Dittrich 1x3 (RBI) and Tommy Kroohm 1x2 (2 RBI).
Stillwater 16, WB Lake 2 (5)
At Oak Park Heights, after losing to the Bears 3-2 earlier this season, Stillwater left little doubt in the rematch while pounding out 17 hits in a 16-2 victory on Friday, May 10 at SAHS.
Dylan Bloom held the Bears to just two runs on two hits and two walks with six strikeouts in four innings.
Nine different players collected at least one hit for the Ponies. AJ Levy doubled twice among his four hits while Charley Rowan delivered three hits, including a home run, to finish with five RBIs.
Owen Maslowski, Joe Fredkove and Henry Mested added two hits apiece.
“Good things have been coming from having at bats where we’re the aggressor and that’s worked out,” Stillwater coach Mike Parker said. “It hasn’t been errors or walks, our guys have been hitting really well.”
White Bear Lake 0 0 2 0 0 — 2 3 3
Stillwater 4 3 9 0 x — 16 17 0
WP: Dylan Bloom 4-ip, 2-h, 2-r, 2-er, 2-bb, 6-so
LP: Blake Eckerle 2 2/3-ip, 15-h, 16-r, 8-er, 2-bb, 1-so
Leading hitters: WBL, Johnny Wong 1x2 (2B, 2 RBI) and Tyler Allshese 2x2; St, AJ Levy 4x4 (2 2B, 2 RBI), Luke Adams 1x3, Charley Rowan 3x3 (HR, 5 RBI), Owen Maslowski 2x4 (2B, 2 RBI), Blake Vanek 1x3 (RBI), Jack Runk 1x3 (2B, 2 RBI), Joe Fredkove 2x3, Henry Mested 2x2 (2B, RBI) and Ty Schroeder 1x2 (RBI).
Stillwater 11, Anoka 1 (5)
At Anoka, Joe Fredkove and Owen Maslowski each supplied three hits to help the Ponies overpower Anoka 11-1 in a nonconference contest on Thursday, May 9 at Anoka High School.
Karson Foster allowed just four hits and did not walk a batter while notching three strikeouts on the mound for Stillwater, which racked up 15 hits.
AJ Levy, Luke Adams, Charley Rowan and Gus Swenson each added two hits for the Ponies, who opened the scoring with three runs in the first and tacked on two more in both the second and third to build a 7-0 lead.
“Anoka was a good team and White Bear Lake is a good team, but ours guys have been hitting the ball,” Ponies coach Mike Parker said.
Stillwater 3 2 2 0 4 — 11 15 0
Anoka 0 0 0 1 0 — 1 5 0
WP: Karson Foster 4-ip, 4-h, 1-r, 1-er, 0-bb, 3-so
LP: Parker Nedland 3-ip, 10-h, 7-r, 6-er, 0-bb, 4-so
Leading hitters: St, AJ Levy 2x4 (2B, RBI), Luke Adams 2x3, Charley Rowan 2x3 (2B, 3 RBI), Blake Vanek 1x4 (2B, RBI), Joe Fredkove 3x3 (RBI), Owen Maslowski 3x3 and Gus Swenson 2x3 (3B, 3 RBI); An, Sam Poser 1x2, Mason Konen 1x1, Hunter Brunner 1x2, Evan Freking 1x2 (3B) and Clay Bernard 1x1.
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