Totino-Grace 6/2/2023
Maple Grove rallies and sends the Eagles home for the season
Box Score 6/2/2023
Maple Grove 4, Totino-Grace 1
In a win-or-go-home game, the Crimson waited until they were down one to nothing in the sixth to do damage. Oh, but damage they did! Hunter Gerber and Nathan Schmidt each went deep for Maple Grove, with Gerber pitching six strong innings as well (3H, 1R, 3BB, 10K). Evan O'Dwyer and Gavin Kustermann also drove in runs, and the Crimson advance to play Spring Lake Park on Monday in another Section 5AAAA elimination game.
The Eagles took the lead in the top half of the sixth with a lead-off walk and an RBI double. However, Gerber got a strikeout, a ground out, and another strikeout to limit the scoring to a lone run. In the bottom half of the inning, Gerber tied the game up with a home run to left center on a three-two pitch. While Hunter waited out a long at bat before launching his bomb, Schmidt decided against the waiting game and hit the very next pitch out to right center for back-to-back jacks on back-to-back pitches. Maple Grove took the lead and kept scoring. After a pitching change Brody Berglin singled and Dylan Vokal walked (for the third time in the game) before another pitching change. Then, O'Dwyer executed a perfect suicide squeeze to score another run, and Gavin Kustermann singled to bring in the fourth run of the inning. Sam Kliber came in for the seventh and gave up one hit but otherwise shut down Totino-Grace for a scoreless frame and the save.