It’s a tough road to travel when you lose your first start in an eight-team, double-elimination playoff format. And the task becomes even more formidable when the first team you run into in the loser-out bracket is the tournament’s No. 1 seed.
That was the challenge facing Thief River Falls Post 117 Friday in the 2014 Minnesota American Legion Division I Sub-State 14 baseball tournament at Tuffy’s Stadium in Perham.
The Bandits, after being shutout by defending champion Alexandria 5-0 in first round play Thursday afternoon, ran into top-seeded Moorhead Friday morning. The Blues had been upset by No. 8 seed Detroit Lakes 2-1 the previous day, but they rebounded with an 11-2 win over No. 5 seed Thief River Falls.
Thursday, Thief River Falls’ Nick Hoffard, who played baseball this spring at Northland Community and Technical College, locked up in a pitcher’s duel with Alexandria’s Dylan Stockert, a North Dakota State University recruit. It was a scoreless draw through seven innings before a two-out, fly ball dropped in for a two-run base hit in the eighth.
“Nick pitched an unbelievable game,” said Thief River Falls coach Corey Poole. “We played well. Their pitcher is going to NDSU and their catcher is headed to Creighton. It was fun for the kids to play in a game with a battery like that. They will remember that.”
Zach Schroeder and Drew Anderson both homered and combined for seven RBI as the Blues grabbed a 3-0 first inning lead, doubled the spread to 6-0 in the third and had an 8-1 lead after five innings.
“We came out a little flat and Moorhead got on us right away,” explained Poole.
It was an 11-16 finish for the Bandits, whose regular season schedule ended the week before with an appearance at the Detroit Lakes Water Carnival Invitational, where they beat Hibbing 6-2, but lost to Perham 12-5 and Moorhead 5-0.
“We had a tough draw,” acknowledged Poole after the sub-state setbacks. “But the kids played well. We had a good year. We played a lot of quality teams.”
Fourth-seeded Alexandria earned its second straight tournament title with a 19-3 win over Moorhead in Sunday’s finals.
Eagan will be the host for the 89th annual Minnesota state tournament July 31-Aug. 4. Games will also be played in Bloomington and Burnsville. It’s a 16 team, double-elimination tournament that features 15 sub-state winners, plus the host team.
The two Minnesota state tournament finalists will advance to the Central Plains Region 6 playoffs Aug. 7-11 at Jack Williams Stadium in Fargo, N.D., where the winner will head to the American Legion World Series Aug. 14-19 in Shelby, N.C.
Game 1
r h e
TRF …………..000 100 010 – 2 7 2
Moorhead…..303 020 03x – 11 11 2
Pitching – (TRF) Landon Sanders-L, 1 1/3 IP; Turner Storm 6 2/3 IP; (Moorhead) Alex Erickson-W, 9 IP.
Offensive highlights – (TRF) Keaton Huot 2/3; Moorhead) Zach Schroeder 2/5, HR, 4 RBI; Drew Anderson HR, 3 RBI.