at Rogers 5/4/2023
Royals walk off Crimson at Rogers HS Baseball Field
Box Score 5/4/2023
Rogers 4, Maple Grove 3
Sam Kliber toed the mound for the Crimson on Thursday and pitched a complete game, giving up one earned run on four hits, four walks, and striking out four. However, Kliber's stellar effort on the hill wasn't enough. After two scoreless innings for both Maple Grove and Rogers, MG plated three runs in the top of the third. Kliber led off with a walk and eventually scored on a Hunter Gerber ground out. With two outs, the Crimson continued the inning with a double from Connor Buckley and walks to Tanner Albeck and Nathan Schmidt. With two out, Gavin Kustermann shot a hard ground ball to left field to score the final two Crimson runs.
The three run lead was short-lived, though, as the Royals plated two runs of their own in the bottom of the third on a dropped third strike, two errors, a walk and two ground outs. With the lead reduced to one run, the score remained 3-2 until the bottom of the fifth when Rogers scored again, tying the game on a sac fly. Maple Grove failed to plate another run after the third, and the Royals used a hit by pitch, a walk, and an error to load the bases for a great scoring opportunity in the bottom of the seventh. Kliber induced a ground out to force a runner out at home and hold Rogers at bay for one batter. However, with one out, Max Robinson placed a hard ground ball through the hole on the left side and Rogers walked off MG.