By Bruce Karnick

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The Raider baseball season has gone as well as it could in the standings for 2022. Before the Raiders finished the suspended game on Monday at HillMurray, the boys were sitting in second place at 162 overall and 132 in the Metro East Conference. Unfortunately, second is the best they can do even if they defeat Hill-Murray as Mahtomedi sits at 151 in the conference. The two losses on the season for the Raiders? The doubleheader against Mahtomedi.

First on the week was their rebound doubleheader against St. Thomas Academy with the two losses fresh on their mind, Hastings was not going to lay down and fold. Hastings won game one against STA 144. The Cadets put up a better fight in game two, but Hastings came out on top 63 in that contest.

The Simley game was also postponed due to weather with the Raiders leading 41 in the third inning with runners on second and third and no outs. Joe Schuster drove in the two base runners and Hastings ended up scoring nine runs in the third to make it 101.

Simley fought back scoring three in the fifth and two in the sixth to make the Raiders a little nervous heading into the seventh, but Gavin Odman shut them down for the final inning. Hastings won 106.

With second in the conference locked in, it allowed the Raiders to focus their attention on the section, taking on section opponent Burnsville on May 20 at Veterans Park.

Connor Stoffel started for Hastings on the mound and Burnsville knocked him around pretty good, scoring two in the top of the first. The Raiders battled back and scored one in the bottom of the first when Tanner Anselment knocked in Stoffel from second.

Hastings moved Gavin Odman to the mound and Stoffel to right to start the second, a move that kept the Blaze at bay. In the bottom of the second, Hastings added three runs. Eddie Peine hit a lead off triple to left center and Odman was walked then stole second. Evan Nelson hit a single to left scoring Peine, and Jack Seleski scored Odman on a ground out to the pitcher. Nelson scored when he stole third and the catcher missed his target trying to get Nelson out. The errant throw allowed Nelson to score.

Burnsville scored two more in the top of the third to tie the game 44. The Raiders retook the lead when Jackson Shaffer stole home on a delayed double steal. Stoffel did his job distracting the defenders by trying to steal second and that gave Schaffer time to get home.

The expectation going into this game was that it would be a good, close game and it did not disappoint. Burnsville tied the game once again in the top of the fifth, but Hastings still had some fight left. Alex Hendrickson hit a single to right to lead off. Then he stole second. The catcher made another poor throw and that got past the infielder out to the center fielder, so Hendrickson took off to third. The center fielder tried to get him out at third, but he also missed the throw, and the ball went out of play allowing Hendrickson to score.

Hastings had the 65 lead and that is where the game would end. Odman logged another win on the mound and Hendrickson earned the save.

Hastings was scheduled to finish the HillMurray game on Monday. Originally, their final regular season game was scheduled to be against Northfield on Wednesday, but due to the threat of rain, it was preemptively moved to Tuesday night. We’ll have those recaps in the next edition of the Journal and more coverage as the boys move forward in the tournament.