Baseball roundup: KMS turns the page

Jun. 8—GLENWOOD — Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg didn't want history repeating itself.

The Fighting Saints are in the 6A championship after a 2-0 victory over New York Mills on Tuesday at Marthaler Field.

In last year's Section 6A baseball playoffs, the Fighting Saints were one win away from making the section championship game before taking a 2-1 loss. KMS lost its next game in the elimination bracket while New York Mills ended up as the Class A runner-up.

"I was a little afraid that we were going to come out a little bit tight and not respond well," Fighting Saints head coach Wade Adamson admitted. "But they came out with a purpose and a mission."

This time, Alex Call made sure that KMS stayed in the driver's seat for a section championship. The hard-throwing senior left-hander pitched all seven innings and struck out 15 one-hitter in a one-hitter.

"We've been waiting for this game all year," Call said. "All year we've been wanting this moment and it came today."

Said Adamson, "It kind of went pretty much the way that we hoped."

KMS now waits on the winner of the elimination bracket. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa and New York Mills play at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, with the winner facing the Fighting Saints in the championship at 4:30 p.m. Game 2, if necessary, is Friday. All remaining games are in Glenwood.

KMS looks to make state for the fourth time in school history, following their appearances in 1991, 2000 and '19.

"We won the first game now," said junior third baseman Jaiden Henjum. "We got one more game left. Just focus on that."

Call opened the game in dominant fashion with 10 strikeouts through the first 12 Eagle batters.

"Kudos to him because he really pounded that strike zone well and he mixed well," said NYM head coach Dustin Geiser. "We haven't seen a lefty throwing that hard this season, or ever with the exception of him from last season. He could locate his pitches well.

"He wasn't just a thrower today; he was a pitcher."

The Fighting Saints were close to going up 1-0 in the first when Call hit an opposite-field single to right field. Wylee Lottmann took off from second base and rounded third, only for the throw from NYM right fielder Bren Salo to beat him home. Catcher Bode Roberts applied the tag for the final out.

KMS didn't have to wait long after that to get on the board. All it took was some heads-up baserunning from Henjum.

Leading off the top of the second inning, Henjum got on base after getting hit by a pitch. Going to second base on a wild pitch, Henjum went to third on a Chase Magaard grounder. Henjum sneaked towards home as the Eagles' second baseman went to the ground to field the ball. And when the first baseman fell to the dirt on the stretch to get Magaard out, Henjum got his opening to head home for the game's first run.

"The first baseman's not lookin' and I'm halfway down (to home)," Henjum said. "I'm halfway down; gotta do it."

From there, Call and NYM's own lefty, Jonah Johnson, duked it out. Over the first five innings, Johnson gave up just two hits, striking out eight in the game.

"When we have Jonah on the mound, we feel like we can beat anybody," Geiser said. "We put a lot of pride in our pitching and our defense this year."

The Eagles didn't get their first hit until the bottom of the fifth when Brayden Ehnert hit a hard grounder that got through the right side of the infield. The next batter, Breck Hensch, was hit by a pitch. Then with a wild pitch, NYM runners were at second and third with one out.

Call struck out the next batter. Lottman, KMS' catcher, stopped a pair of breaking balls in the dirt, including the pitch that struck out Montgomery Briard. Lottman picked the ball up and made the throw to first to get the final out and eliminate the threat.

"I'm very lucky to have Wylee," Call said.

Adamson added, "(Lottman and Call) have been playing high school baseball for four years now. They know each other pretty well and Wylee can read when that ball's going to be in the dirt and is not afraid to get down and get in front of it."

Henjum came through with another big offensive play, cracking a double over the left fielder's head to score Jared Cortez from second for an insurance run.

"I saw a fastball, so I swung and hit it," Henjum said. "I thought I flew out to left but it went over his head. I was happy about that."

KMS 010 001 0-2 7 1

New York Mills 000 000 0-0 1 0

Hitting — KMS: Isaac Rudningen 1-4 sb, Wylee Lottman 1-3 bb, Jared Cortez 1-2 r bb hbp, Alex Call 2-4, Jaiden Henjum 1-3 r rbi 2b hbp, Chase Magaard 1-3 rbi, Evan Zimmer 0-2 bb... New York Mills: Brayden Ehnert 1-3, Breck Hensch 0-1 hbp-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — KMS: Call (W) 7-1-0-0-1-15 ... New York Mills: Jonah Johnson (L) 6-5-2-2-3-8, Jacob Guck 1-2-0-0-0-1

Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa eliminated Ashby from the Section 6A tournament in the second losers' bracket game of the day at Glenwood.

BBE scored five in the top of the first to take control. Ashton Dingmann got the complete-game victory, striking out four and walking two. He allowed eight hits and two earned runs. He also went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

Luke Dingmann was 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs for the Jaguars.

Torin Olson, Evan Paulson and Brodie Ecker all had two hits for the Arrows. Ecker slugged a home run.

BBE 510 000 2-8 8 2

Ashby 020 001 0-3 8 5

Hitting — BBE: Will Van Beck 1-2 r-2, Blaine Fischer 1-3 r, Gavin Kampsen 1-3 r rbi bb, Ashton Dingmann 2-4 rbi-2 2b, H. Sobiech 0-0 r-2, Luke Dingmann 2-4 r-2 rbi-3, Tanner Shelton 1-4 rbi ... Ashby: Torin Olson 2-3 bb 2b, Carter Spangler 1-4, Evan Paulson 2-3 r-2, Brodie Ecker 2-3 r rbi-2 hr, Easton Nelson 1-3

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — BBE: A. Dingmann (W) 7-8-3-2-2-4 ... Ashby: Paulson (L) 0.1-4-5-5-1-0, Olson 5-2-1-1-4-5, Jake Norby 1.2-2-2-2-0-2

Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa opened play in the losers' bracket of Section 6A with the victory over Parkers Prairie at Glenwood.

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then were shut down the rest of the way by Will Van Beck. The senior right-hander struck out eight, walked one and scattered seven hits in the complete-game victory.

Ashton Dingmann slugged a two-run homer and Gavin Kampsen went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for the Jaguars.

Parkers Prairie 100 000 0-1 7 1

BBE 003 100 x-4 7 0

Hitting — Parkers Prairie: C. Cessell 1-3 r, M. Boesl 2-3 sb, Z. Mrnak 1-3 rbi 2b, J. Wagner 1-3, N. Steidl 1-3, C. Thieschafer 1-3 ... BBE: Will Van Beck 1-3 r rbi bb, Blaine Fischer 1-3 r, Gavin Kampsen 2-3 rbi 2b, Ashton Dingmann 1-3 r rbi-2 hr, Luke Dingmann 1-3, Tanner Shelton 0-2 bb, Luke Illies 1-3 r

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Parkers Prairie: Debilzen (L) 6-7-4-4-2-8 ... BBE: Van Beck (W) 7-7-1-1-1-8

Eli Anderson gave Fairmont the walk-off win over Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in the 10th inning of a Section 3AA elimination game at Legion Field in Marshall.

Fairmont faces Paynesville in the section championship game at 5 p.m. Thursday in Marshall. Paynesville needs to win once while Fairmont would need to win two to go to state. Game 2, if necessary, is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Anderson connected with an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th that brought home Lincoln Becker. Anderson finished 4-for-6.

The winning run came after Fairmont worked its way out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the top of the 10th. The Cardinals got a 6-2-3 double play, followed by a strikeout by reliever Zachary Jorgensen. He got the win after tossing 4-2/3 innings.

Jack Peterson paced the Falcons, going 4-for-6 with two doubles and a run. He also tossed the first 8-1/3 innings, striking out 10.

Zach Bagley finished 3-for-4. Logan Straumann, Jaxon Behm and Masson Hiltner each had two hits for ACGC. The Falcons wrap up the season at 14-9.

Paynesville and Fairmont already met in the section playoffs, with the Bulldogs getting a 10-9 come-from-behind victory Saturday in Marshall.

ACGC 002 300 000 0-5 14 5

Fairmont 000 040 100 1-6 11 2

Hitting — ACGC: Logan Straumann 2-4 2b r-2 rbi bb hbp, Jack Peterson 4-6 2b-2 r, Connor Barker 1-4 rbi-2, Jaxon Behm 2-6 3b rbi, Zach Bagley 3-4 bb sb, Masson Hiltner 2-5 r ... Fairmont: Eli Anderson 4-6 r rbi sb-2, Landen Meyerdirk 2-5 sb-2, Zachary Jorgensen 1-4 rbi-2 bb, Jack Kosbab 1-3 r bb-2 sb, Cooper Steuber 1-5 r, Lincoln Becker 1-4 r-2 rbi bb, Levi Pooley 1-4 r

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — ACGC: Peterson 8.1-9-3-2-2-10, Behm 0-1-2-2-1-0, Bagley (L) 1-1-1-1-3-1... Fairmont: Nate Soelter 3.1-8-4-3-0-3, Meyerdirk 2-4-1-1-1-2, Jorgensen (W) 4.2-2-0-0-3-6

The Section 3A championship is set as Murray County Central beat Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 1-0 at Milroy.

MCC faces MACCRAY in the section championship at 5 p.m. Thursday at Yankee Field in Milroy. Game 2, if needed, is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The two teams met earlier in the bracket. On May 31 in Milroy, the Wolverines knocked the Rebels into the elimination bracket with a 7-2 victory. MACCRAY trailed 2-1 before putting up three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings.

Both teams are looking to make state for the second time. The Wolverines won the Class A championship in 2009. The Rebels won the consolation championship in 2001.