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Class 4A state baseball quarterfinal: Minnetonka 4, Mounds View 3

john shipley, pioneer press
·2 min read

A well-played back-and-forth Class 4A state quarterfinal between Minnetonka and Mounds View on Tuesday nearly ended in the kind of comedy that can only happen in baseball.

Racing around third base to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, Skippers infielder Colten Benedict suddenly stopped in his tracks, momentarily throwing the outcome in doubt.

With Benedict about to score easily on a double to the left-field gap by Max Pederson, Minnetonka head coach Paul O. Twenge raised his hands in celebration to celebrate his team’s impending come-from-behind, 4-3 victory at CHS Field.

“I thought he meant, ‘Stop!’ ” Benedict said.

By then, the ball was on its way in on a relay from center field, but Twenge — and his teammates — quickly got Benedict to finish his dash to the plate and he scored the winning run ahead of the throw.

Benedict went 3 for 4 and scored two runs as third seed Minnetonka (18-7) advanced to face second seed East Ridge (18-8) in a noon semifinal on Wednesday at CHS.

Jake McCluskey started the scoring by plating Nate Wheeler and Ethan Binder with a double in the fourth inning and right-handers Max Nelson, Kieran Haasland and Evan Kueppers combined to throw seven innings for the Skippers.

Right-hander Drew Simon was in control early for the Mustangs (15-10), despite giving up some hard-hit balls. His defense made the plays, and Andrew Rogers gave Mounds View a 2-0 lead with a two-run home run into the bullpen in left field.

The Mustangs added another run in the inning when Tyler Guerin, who had doubled, scored on a two-out single up the middle by Ryan Counihan to make it 3-0. That single chased Nelson, and Haasland came in to end the inning on a fly ball to left field.

Mounds View was never able to plate another run, but came close to taking a lead in the top of the seventh when Parker Holmboe was hit by a pitch and Rogers singled to bring Guerin to the plate with no outs.

Guerin, a right-hander pitcher who bats left-handed, took the first pitch he saw from Kueppers and hammered it to center for what appeared to be a go-ahead double. But center fielder Hodson Poole tracked it down for the first out.

“I thought every ball I hit was going to drop,” Guerin said. “Only one did.”

Next batter Hayden Sperbeck then rifled a liner just foul down the left field line before drawing a walk, but the inning ended when Kueppers induced consecutive infield pop-ups.

“I feel like losing any game is hard, but when it’s well-fought, it’s kind of harder,” said Guerin.

The Mustangs will meet Lakeville South in the consolation bracket Wednesday at Palm Field. First pitch is set for 9 a.m.

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