The Raider baseball season ended at the hands of Eagan on Monday, June 1, as Hastings traveled to Burnsville for a section playoff game and fell 6-1, coming up three wins short of the section title. It was a win-or-go-home game, and the Raiders needed to keep their season alive on the road. Instead, Eagan took control early, added on in the middle innings, and held Hastings to one run despite a seven-hit night from the Raider lineup.
Eagan struck first in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead before Hastings could settle into the game. The Raiders were held scoreless in the top half, and Eagan used its first chance at the plate to grab momentum. Hastings starter Kyle Maronick had to work through traffic early, and Eagan made the most of its opportunities. The Raiders did not commit an error in the game, so Eagan’s first run came from its own offensive pressure rather than a Hastings mistake in the field. That became one of the early themes of the game, as the Raiders played clean defense, but Eagan found ways to move runners and score.
The second inning proved to be the biggest swing of the night. Hastings again came up empty in the top half, and Eagan answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to stretch the lead to 4-0. Maronick finished with two innings pitched, allowing four runs on two hits. He walked four and struck out one. Eagan did not pile up hits against him, but the walks gave the home team extra chances, and Eagan cashed them in. After two innings, Hastings was facing a four-run deficit, and the Raiders were left trying to fight back against an Eagan pitching staff that limited the damage whenever Hastings put the ball in play.
Brady Hendrickson took over on the mound and gave Hastings a chance to stay within reach. He worked the final four innings for the Raiders, allowing two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out two. Hendrickson did not shut Eagan down completely, but he steadied the game after the early four-run burst. Eagan was scoreless in the third and fourth innings, and that gave Hastings a window to work its way back. The Raiders put together seven hits on the night, including three doubles, but they could not string enough of them together in the early innings to cut into the lead.
Hastings had chances because several hitters reached base. Gunnar Skov had the strongest offensive line for the Raiders, going 2-for-3 with a double. Hendrickson also doubled and finished 1-for-4. Luke Niederkorn went 1-for-4, Colton McKnight went 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored, Joey Horton went 1-for-3, and Payton Perseke went 1-for-2 with a walk and the Raiders’ lone RBI. Cole Werner was hit by a pitch and stole a base. Hastings finished with seven hits, one walk, one hit batter and eight runners left on base. That number told much of the story, as the Raiders had baserunners but could not turn enough of them into runs.
Eagan added one run in the fifth inning to make it 5-0. By then, Hastings was running out of time, but the Raiders finally broke through in the top of the sixth. McKnight started the scoring inning by reaching base and later came around with Hastings’ only run. Perseke drove him in, giving the Raiders a run and cutting the deficit to 5-1. The inning gave Hastings a brief spark, and it showed the kind of contact the Raiders had been looking for throughout the game. Still, Eagan avoided the larger inning. With Hastings leaving runners on base and Eagan’s pitchers keeping the ball in the park, the Raiders were unable to turn that sixth inning run into a bigger rally.
Eagan answered in the bottom of the sixth with one more run, pushing the lead back to five at 6-1. That run made the Raiders’ path even harder heading into their final at-bat. Hastings came to the plate in the seventh needing a major rally, but Eagan closed the game with a scoreless inning. The Raiders were held without a run in six of the seven innings, and their only scoring came in the sixth. Eagan scored once in the first, three times in the second, once in the fifth and once in the sixth. The final line showed Hastings with one run, seven hits, no errors and eight left on base. Eagan finished with six runs, six hits, one error and two left on base.
The loss closed a season that had carried Hastings deep into section play. The Raiders were not far from the section final, but Eagan’s early offense and steady pitching were enough to end the run. Hastings played a clean defensive game, with no errors, and got strong individual offensive efforts from Skov, McKnight, Hendrickson and Perseke. Skov was the only Raider with a multi-hit game, and his double was one of three extra-base hits for Hastings. Hendrickson and McKnight also doubled. Perseke supplied the only RBI and reached base twice. On the mound, Maronick took the first two innings, and Hendrickson covered the final four.
Eagan defeated Hastings 6-1. For Hastings, Skov went 2-for-3 with a double, McKnight went 1-for-3 with a double and a run, Hendrickson went 1-for-4 with a double, Niederkorn went 1-for-4, Horton went 1-for-3, and Perseke went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. Werner was hit by a pitch and stole a base. Maronick pitched two innings, allowing four earned runs on two hits with four walks and one strikeout. Hendrickson pitched four innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Hastings finished with seven strikeouts at the plate and one walk.