The Section 3AAAA Baseball Tournament has been an eventful one. Multiple time, day and location changes due to weather and graduation ceremonies, upsets and crazy games. Hastings had their share of things, especially the crazy game against Park of Cottage Grove. Park was the seven seed with only four wins for the season and they took Hastings almost to the wire with a 5-4 win for the Raiders. Hastings then dismantled the sixth seeded Rosemount Irish 8-2 after they beat the third seed Burnsville 3-2.
On the flip side of the bracket, the fifth seeded Eagan Wildcats defeated the fourth seeded Eastview Lightning 4-3 then proceeded to beat the top seeded Two Rivers Warriors 3-1 to face Hastings in the Semifinal round at Alimagnet Park on Monday, June 3rd where Hastings fell to the fifth seed 5-4.
The game against Park on May 30 was a bit of a nailbiter for Raiders fans. The first round of sections always seems to bite the Raiders in the backside, but this year, this year is different, there is a humble level of confidence for the Raiders.
Park took the lead 1-0 in the top of the second, but Hastings answered right back with three in the bottom half of the second. Jack Seleski walked to lead things off, then he advanced to second on a heads-up play, no one was paying attention to him at first, the Park pitcher was kicking things around on the mound, so he took off for second and made it. Cade Kimmes moved Seleski to third on a 4-3 ground out and with two outs, Blake Vandehoef walked to put runners on the corners. Mark DeNoyer launched a rocket of a double to center field scoring Seleski from third and Vandehoef from first to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead. Carter Lundstrom hit a single to right scoring DeNoyer before the side was retired.
In the third, the Wolfpack picked up two to tie the game 3-3 then Hastings came right back. Alex Hendrickson drew a walk to lead things off and then stole second. A hard-hit single to left field scored Hendrickson for the only Hastings run in the third, and the Raiders had the 4-3 lead.
The fourth inning was pretty uneventful, but the fifth, that got the crowd and the Raiders back in it. Johnny Teigland was facing a 2-1 count when he got the pitch he wanted, and he launched it over the left field fence for a no doubter home run to give the Raiders an insurance run.
Park gained one back in the sixth, but that was all they could do, and Hastings held on to win 5-4.
Seleski earned the start for Hastings going three innings. Seleski tossed 80 pitches, striking out two and walking five while allowing three earned runs. Hendrickson closed the game out with a four-inning appearance where he allowed one run on 69 pitches, striking out four and walking one.
The game on May 31 against Rosemount was much less nerve wracking for everyone. The Irish jumped out to an early one run lead in the first, but Hastings took the lead back in the bottom of the second and never looked back. Hastings scored two in the second, three in the third and three in the fifth to win 8-2.
There were supposed to be games on Friday for the loser’s bracket, but the weather kept that from happening. They tried moving those games to Saturday, but graduation ceremonies elsewhere kept that from happening. That forced all of the loser’s bracket games to be played on Monday before the winner’s bracket games could be played. A monster rainstorm dumped three inches of rain in the region Sunday evening and that deluge threatened playability of the Alimagnet fields, but the grounds crew was able to get the fields ready for those games to start at a decent time pushing the Raiders back to a 7:00 scheduled start.
Eagan jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the first and Hastings got one back in the bottom of the second. Jack Seleski shut the Wildcats down in the top of the second and third. Hastings tied the game at three in the bottom of the third thanks to a lot of quality at bats, a few walks and a hit by pitch. Eagan regained the lead with a solo home run in the fifth and then scored on an RBI double to add an insurance run. Hastings got one back in the bottom of the sixth when Hendrickson nearly knocked the cover off the ball with a solo homer of his own, but the Raiders were unable to complete the comeback and they lost their first game in the playoffs, ending their winning streak at 13.
The Raiders are now in the elimination bracket and were scheduled to play that game Tuesday against the number four seed Eastview. They already took down the Lighting in the final game of the regular season 5-4. If they win that, they have a potential two game rematch to go to state against Eagan starting Wednesday. A win on Wednesday puts the section championship on the line Thursday. All of the remaining section games are held at Alimagnet fields in Burnsville.
There were a number of upsets Monday in the Section 3AAAA tournament. #1 Two Rivers was in the elimination bracket early and they faced Park of Cottage Grove where they won. They then had to come right back and take on #4 Eastview who had defeated #6 Rosemount in their first game of the day. Eastview won 4-0 and, like Hastings, they are now three wins from going to the state tournament.
The trick here is, not many teams have the pitching depth to win three in a row by playing four days consecutively. Hastings used their two best pitchers Monday. Seleski threw at least three innings, and Hendrickson threw the rest. Official stats were not available making the huge unknown what they each threw for pitches.
The pitch count rules are, 30 and under requires no days of rest, 31-50 one day of rest, 51-75 is two days of rest, and 76-115 is three days of rest. If they both threw 75 or less, the earliest they could come back to throw this week is Thursday. If they each went 76 or more pitches, they are done for the section tournament.
That leaves Carter Lundstrom, Mark DeNoyer, Matt Sherry and Creed Peterson who have seen any significant time on the mound this season. Cole Karnick, Sawyer Tjomsland, Evan Nelson, AJ Werner, Brody Anderson and Colton McKnight have all thrown four innings or less this season according to the Star Tribune’s Baseball Hub. The issue with Nelson is he is a key player at third base, and he has been rock solid in that position all season. They can move Hendrickson to third and slot Gavin Radant or Mark DeNoyer in at shortstop/second base and the Raiders should not miss a beat defensively. Tjomsland is in a similar situation in the outfield, but there you have Vandehoef to step into an outfield slot.
The clear top three pitchers for Hastings have been Hendrickson, Seleski and Lundstrom. After those three, there are still many very talented players that can step in, eat some innings, and be a huge change of pace from what the Hastings opponents have seen during the section tournament. As this is being written late Monday night, the expectation is to not count these boys out. This is a special group of kids, and they still have a solid chance to win the Section 3AAAA title and make the trip to CHS Field June 13.
The timing of the games the rest of the week is very uncertain. Predicted weather and the fact that we have already had a lot of rain will likely require some flexibility for both the timing of the games as well as the location. Keep an eye on our social media for any needed last-minute updates and LET’S GO RAIDERS!