May 28 at Paynesville

Section 3AA playoffs

Minnewaska 4 New London-Spicer 3

The Minnewaska baseball team took the field in the Section 3AA playoffs on Saturday in Paynesville. The top-seeded Bulldogs hosted the #4 seeded Wildcats of New London-Spicer and the #5 seeded Lakers.

The first game would pit NL-S against Minnewaska, with the winner advancing to play Paynesville immediately afterwards. 

With their seasons on the line, the Lakers and Wildcats began play at noon on a perfect day for baseball, under sunny skies and warm temperatures.

The Lakers were able to score three runs right away, taking advantage of some shaky play by the Wildcats. Hits by Torii Johnson and Jack Larson, combined with two batters, Jacob Blair at lead-off and Dylan Alexander, reaching base after being hit by a pitch, meant the first four batters up reached base. Blair, Torii Johnson and Alexander all would score, putting the Lakers up, 3-0, right away.

In the top of the third inning Jack Majerus singled, stole seconds and scored on another NL-S error, giving the Lakers a four-run lead.

Jacob Blair started on the hill for Minnewaska and tossed four scoreless innings. The scoreless innings weren’t without threats as NL-S loaded the bases in the second inning and had runners reach base in the third and fourth. But Blair was able to escape each time, getting outs when they were needed the most.

Finally, in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Wildcats took advantage of a walk, a single and a wild pitch, to score their first run, but the Lakers still led, 4-1, with just two innings to play.

The NL-S starting pitcher was allowing less and less with each inning. PJ Johnson was called upon in the sixth inning to keep the Lakers in the lead.  

A walk and a two-out single plated a single run in the bottom of the sixth, but Minnewaska headed into the final frame still holding on to a 4-2 lead.

NL-S had their first two batters in the bottom of the seventh inning reach base with singles. After a strikeout, the next batter singled, scoring a run and putting the tying run on third base. A walk loaded the bases, giving the Wildcats a chance to win the game with a hit. The next batter hit a grounder on the infield, which was thrown to the plate for the out. With the bases loaded and two outs, PJ Johnson ran the count to full on the batter. Johnson won the battle, tossing a strike to end the game, giving the Lakers a 4-3 win.

Their early offensive work gave the Lakers a nice lead, but seven walks and some late hits allowed the Wildcats to nearly snatch the game away.

Minnewaska got seven hits from seven different players and needed every hit and NL-S error to hang on for the win.            

Lakers 301 000 0 – 4 7 1

NL-S   000 011 1 – 3 7 3

HITTING – Minnewaska:

Jacob Blair 1-3 r, Torii Johnson 1-4 r, Dylan Alexander 1-3 r, Jack Larson 1-4 rbi, Jack Majerus 1-4 r rbi-2, Noah Jensen 1-3, Hunter Johnson 1-3  

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)

Jacob Blair (W) 5-3-1-1-5-6

PJ Johnson        2-4-2-2-2-2

May 28 at Paynesville

Section 3AA playoffs

Paynesville 5 Minnewaska 3

The Lakers’ task grew greatly in game two of the day. Paynesville had throttled the Lakers, 14-1, just eight days earlier and ended the regular season undefeated, with an 18-0 record. The Bulldogs boasted a potent offense and solid pitching. It would take all the Lakers had to make it a game.

As they had in the first game, the Lakers struck first. Jacob Blair led off the game sneaking a fly ball over the left fielder’s head for a double. He would score on a one-out single by Jack Larson.

Another run was scored by Minnewaska in the third inning after Dylan Alexander and Jack Larson had drawn one-out walks. PJ Johnson was able to land a single to right with two outs, bringing Alexander across home plate.

While the Lakers were having some success, the Bulldogs were having trouble getting the bat squared up against the offering of Torii Johnson. The Minnewaska senior righty used pinpoint control and the ability  to change speeds to blank the host team through three innings.

Paynesville finally started to get to Johnson in the bottom of the fourth, getting three consecutive singles to open the frame. Johnson did well to limit the damage to one run, allowing Minnewaska to hold their 2-1 lead into the fifth inning.

As Johnson began to tire on the warm day and the Paynesville batters saw him for the third time through the lineup, they were able to put a three-spot on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth.

Now trailing, 4-2, the Lakers needed to find some offense to blunt the surging Bulldogs. The top of the sixth looked promising after Noah Jensen led off with a double. Levi Johnson drew a one-out walk, then Jacob Blair was struck by a pitch. The bases were loaded with one out. Jensen was forced out at home for the second out, but Dylan Alexander came through with a single to plate Levi Johnson, pulling the Lakers to within a run. A nice hit by Larson to center field was tracked down for an out, but the Lakers had closed to within a run.

Paynesville got the run back in their half of the sixth, turning a single, double and sacrifice fly into an insurance run.         

A walk to Jensen in the seventh brought the tying run to the plate, but the Dragons were able to get the final out and take the game, 5-3.

It was a valiant effort by the Lakers, playing against an excellent, undefeated team on their home field.

The loss put the Lakers into the elimination bracket. 

Lakers        101 001 0 – 3 7 0

Paynesville 000 131 x – 5 9 1

HITTING – Minnewaska:

Jacob Blair 2-3 2b-2 r, Dylan Alexander 2-3 2b rbi, Austin Ballhagen 0-0 r, Jack Larson 1-3 rbi, PJ Johnson 1-3 rbi, Noah Jensen 1-2 2b, Levi Johnson 0-2 r  

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)

Torii Johnson (W)  6-9-5-5-1-1

May 31 at Montevideo

Section 3AA playoffs

ACGC 3 Minnewaska 2

The Minnewaska baseball team played their elimination bracket game in Montevideo, taking on the #3 seeded team from ACGC. The Falcons had lost to Morris to set up the Tuesday night matchup.  

Unlike the first two playoff games for the Lakers, they didn’t score in their first at bat. They loaded the bases in the first inning and put two more runners on in the second but couldn’t get the key hit to score any runs.

The Falcons scored the first run of the game in their half of the second. With two outs ACGC got a hit batter, an error and a single to take the lead.

Minnewaska tied the game in the top of the fifth inning. Jacob Blair got plunked to begin the inning. He would eventually score from second on a single by Dylan Alexander, knotting the game at 1-1.

The Falcons would retake the lead in their half of the fifth, taking advantage of two walks and some Minnewaska miscues to take the lead, then add another run on a one-out RBI single to go up, 3-1. 

Hunter Johnson reached base in the top of the sixth on a walk, then scored on a two-out single by brother Torii to get the Lakers within a run.

There were no fireworks in the final at bat of the season for the Lakers as they went down in order in the seventh, the final two outs via strikeout, bringing the 2022 season to a close.

Minnewaska ended the season with a 13-9 record that included winning streaks of six and four games. A late regular season swoon was followed up by three very good efforts in the section playoffs. Each of the three games could have gone either way, showing a resilience that should help next year’s team take another step forward.

Congratulations to the Minnewaska baseball team and first-year coach Joe Alexander on an exciting season that was never boring and had plenty of memorable moments.        

Lakers 000 011 0 – 2 3 2

ACGC  010 020 x – 3 6 3

HITTING – Minnewaska:

Jacob Blair 0-2 r, Torii Johnson 1-4 rbi, Dylan Alexander 1-3 rbi, Hunter Johnson 1-3 r  

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)

PJ Johnson (L) 6-3-1-2-4