Strange Days! The bouncing ball!
Strange Days!
Minneota emerged from a three-game week with a 2-1 record — but it was a week of strange happenings and highly unusual circumstances.
In a “battle of the bunts”, Minneota lost a 5-4, eight-inning battle to Granite Falls.
They took a 9-3 win from MACCRAY in a game in which they couldn’t quite pull away.
On Monday a catch that wasn’t ruled a catch and a ball that bounced off Cole Sanow’s head scored the winning run in a 7-6 victory over Central MN Christian.
“One thing is, we don’t get too frustrated or too down. When something happens, whether by our choice or not, we find a way,” said Coach Keven Larson.
Monday night, with the bases loaded, the scored tied at 6-6 and two outs, Bluejay pitcher Micah VanderBeek plunked Cole Sanow on the side of the head, forcing in the winning run, 7-6.
“The pressure is on in that situation. We try to move closer to the plate and make the strike zone smaller. It’s not good he got hit in the head, by any means, but we’re trying to make the area smaller for the pitcher,” said Coach Larson.
Back to that crazy game at Granite Falls.
The fourth of six batters in two-thirds of an inning to be hit by a pitch came home to score in the heart-breaking loss.
“At Granite Falls, we couldn’t field three bunts,” said the coach.
Sounds like a soap opera. Well, it was, sort of ....
Reliever Teddy Pesch hit Carter Sneller with a pitcher in the eighth inning and Cole Richter laid down a bunt to get him to second.
Only catcher Alex Pohlen threw the ball over the head of first baseman Austin Sorensen and Sneller rounded the bases — and in a cloud of dust — scored the winning run.
Just one inning earlier, Pesch relieved Thomas Hennen with two outs after Hennen hit three batters to load the bases.
OK, there was more.
Minneota scored three runs to take a 3-0 lead in the second after Granite Falls pitcher Dalton Anderson hit Pohlen, Landon Abraham singled and Sam Buysse walked to load the bases.
Here it is:
Jaymes Moon laid down a sacrifice bunt, the third baseman Angel Jimenez throw the ball past his first baseman and all three runners scored — and Moon was thrown out.
Whew! Did you get all that?
Oh yeah .... In the third inning YME scored three runs. Twice hitters bunted the ball to sacrifice, and both times pitcher Sam Buysse dropped the ball for errors.
The only sane thing that happened was, with Yellow Medicine East leading 4-3 in the fifth, Thomas Hennen doubled and Pohlen sliced a nice nhit to left to score Hennen to tie the game at 4-4.
The rest was pure insanity.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Coach Larson. But he added, “It’s kind of nice a couple of guys, Landon (Abraham), Thomas Hennen and Alex (Pohlen) came through. Hopefully this time of year this is what we’re going to do.
Thomas Hennen hit his first career varsity home run against Prinsburg. At the time it pulled Minneota within 3-2.
Then there was the crazy catch (or no catch) against the Bluejays.
In the top of the seventh, with Minneota leading 5-4, with two out and two on, Mason Beekman lined a drive to right field.
Jaymes Moon dove for the ball, rolled over and came up with the ball in the air.
But the umpire called it no catch and two runners scored. After a meeting with the home ump, the ruling stood and the Bluejays led, 6-5.
“It looked like it rolled off his glove and he caught it with his hand. But the ump made a quick judgement on it,” said Coach Larson.
“We didn’t play a perfect game either. It; just happens,” he said.
But Minneota had one more chance and Landon Abraham sliced a hit to right-centerfield to scored Thomas Hennen and the game was tied at 6-6.
“Luckily we had a chance and we were able to come back,” said Coach Larson.
That’s when the “plunk” happened on Cole Sanow’s head for a “walkoff hit by pitch.”
The only “almost sane” game came Friday when the Vikings beat MACCRAY, 9-3 breaking away from a 2-1 deficit to scoreeight runs in the second, third and fourth innings.
Thomas Hennen had a pair of hits; Pohlen a huge double and Abraham a double during the rally against MACCRAY’s eighth grade hurler Brooks Asche.Teddy Pesch and Brant Buysse combined for the win, striking out 11 batters between them.
Other than the MACCRAY win, everything has been close.
“That’s OK. I’d rather have a close game right now than a laugher, 11-1, because that’s what I expect on Saturday,” said the coach.
Saturday the playoffs begin and Minneota , ranked No. 2 in the South Section 3A playoffs, will host Red Rock Central at 11 a.m. If they win they will play a second game (about 3 p.m.) that day, also at Minneota.
Minneota 9, MACCRAY 3
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Brant Buysse, 2b 3-2-2-0; Thomas Hennen 4-1-2-2; Teddy Pesch, p 4-0-0-0; Alex Pohlen c 4-2-2-1; Landon Abraham, lf 3-1-1-1; Jaymes Moon, rf 3-2-1-0; Sam Buysse, cf 1-1-1-1; Austin Sorensen, 1b 2-0-0-0; Jacob Hennen, dh 3-0-0-0; Josh Laleman, 3b 0-0-0-0. Totals 22-9-9-5.
MACCRAY (AB-R-H-RBI) Braden Hoekstra, cf 2-1-0-0; Carter Wrede, ph 1-0-0-0; Brady Kientz, lf 3-0-0-0; Brett Hurguth, 1b 2-0-1-0; Gabe Henker, dh 3-2-1-1; Ole Sandry, lf 0-0-0-0; Rhys Schwitters, ss 2-0-0-0; Sam Hilbrands, rf 2-0-0-0; Brooks Asche, p-lf 3-0-0-0; Andrew Miller, lf 1-0-0-0; Riley Cronen, 2b 2-0-0-0; Isaac Strommer, ss 2-0-0-0. Totals 23-3-2-1.
Score by Innings:
MACCRAY 200 100 0 — 3 2 2
Minneota 132 300 x — 9 9 2
E-Minneota: T. Hennen, Sorensen; MACCRAY: Pesch 2. LOB-Minneota 7; MACCRAY 1. SB-Minneota B. Buysse; Pohlen; MACCRAY-Schwitters, Hoekstra 2. SAC-Minneota: Abraham, Moon; S. Buysse. 2B-Minneota: Pohlen, Abraham.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
Pesch (W) 4 3 2 2 2 5
Brant Buysse 3 0 0 0 0 6
MACCRAY
Asche (L) 3 6 2 4 1 2
Kientz 3 3 3 5 0 1
HP-Schwitters (By Pesch); WP-Pesch 1; Asche 3.
Minneota 7, Central MN Christian 6
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Brant Buysse, 2b 4-1-1-0; Thomas Hennen, ss 3-3-2-1; Teddy Pesch, 3b-p 1-2-1-1; Alex Pohlen, c 4-1-1-2; Josh Laleman, cr 0-0-0-0; Landon Abraham, lf 4-0-3-1; Jaymes Moon, rf 2-0-0-0; Cole Sanow, dh 3-0-0-1; Austin Sorensen, 1b 0-0-0-0; Sam Buysse, p-cf 3-0-0-0; Jacob Hennen, cf-3b 3-0-0-0. Totals 27-7-8-7.
CMC (AB-R-H-RBI) Jay Marcus, cf 2-1-1-0; Simon VanDyken, 2b 4-1-1-0; Jake Meyer, p-1b 4-2-1-0; Micah VanderBeek, 1b-p 3-0-1-0; Mason Dehmlow, c 4-1-1-2; Tucker Dehmlow, ss 4-1-2-0; Mason Beekman, rf 4-0-1-2; Blake Greenwaldt, lf 4-0-0-0; Brandon Swart, 3b 3-0-1-1. Totals 32-6-8-5.
Score by Innings
CMC 300 001 2 — 6 8 0
Minneota 101 030 2 — 7 8 2
E-Minneota: B. Buysse, T. Hennen. LOB-Minneota: 6; CMC 8. SB-Minneota: B. Buysse; T. Hennen; Abraham; CMC:Marcus; M. Dehmlow. SAC: Minneota:Pesch, Moon.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
S. Buysse 5.2 4 3 6 0 5
Pesch (W) 1.1 2 2 3 0 2
CMC
Meyer 5 5 5 6 2 5
VanderBeek (L) 1.2 2 2 2 2 3
HP-Marcus (by S. Buysse), Sanow (by VanderBeek). WP-Meyer 3.
Yellow Medicine East 5, Minneota 4 (8)
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Brant Buysse, 2b 4-0-0-0; Thomas Hennen, ss 4-1-1-0; Teddy Pesch, 3b-ss-p 4-0-0-0; Alex Pohlen, c 3-1-1-1; Landon Abraham, lf 3-1-1-0; Sam Buysse, cf 2-1-0-0; Jaymes Moon, rf 2-0-0-1; Cole Sanow, dh 2-0-1-0; Austin Sorensen, 1b, 0-0-0-0; Jacob Hennen, cf 2-0-1-0; Josh Laleman, 3b 0-0-0-0. Totals 24-4-6-2.
YELLOW MEDICINE EAST (AB-R-H-RBI) Bennett Knapper, 2b 4-1-2-0; Nick Lindstrom, 2b 1-1-0-0; Tate Schulte, rf 3-1-1-0; Ethan Peterson, dh 3-0-0-0; Dalton Anderson, p 0-0-0-0; Angel Jimenez, 3b 3-0-1-2; Bryce Schmidt, rf 3-1-0-1; Cater Sneller, cf 3-1-1-0; Cole Richter, 1b-p 3-0-1-1; Ayden Friese, c 3-0-0-0. Totals 26-5-6-5.
Score by Innings:
Minneota 030 100 00 — 4 6 3
Yellow Medicine East 013 000 01 — 5 6 1
E-Minneota: S. Buysse 2, Pohlen, Moon; YME: Jimenez. LOB-Minneota 6; YME: 8. SB-Minneota: Moon, Abraham, Pohlen; YME: Sneller. SAC-Minneota: Moon; Schmidt, Lindstrom; Schmidt; Richter. DP-YME: 6-3 (6); 6-3 (8). 2B-Minneota: Thomas Hennen.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
S. Buysse 6 4 0 5 0 4
T. Hennen .2 0 0 0 0 0
Pesch (L) .1 1 0 0 0 0
YME
Anderson 6 4 1 6 2 2
Richter (W) 2 0 0 0 1 0
HP-Pohlen, Abraham (by Anderson); Lindstrom, Peterson, Jimenez (by T. Hennen); Sneller (by Pesch).