Hermantown In Top Round Of Final Four Baseball

June 3

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Perhaps the Hermantown baseball team had a lucky charm with them on Thursday afternoon. The Hawks won a thrilling extra inning game against Moose Lake-Willow River in the Section 7AA second round single elimination game. Then, after moving on to the Final Four, they beat Mora in another tight game to remain undefeated entering next Tuesday’s play.

The Hawks grabbed an 8-7 nine-inning win against ML-WR by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. The Rebels pitcher made a wild pickoff attempt with the bases loaded that allowed Hermantown to score the winning run. The Hawks had also scored seven runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Adam Krause led the Hawks by scoring two runs, including the game winning run in the ninth inning. Hayden Hoffman, Trevor Nummela, Rudy Ketchum and Abe Young all had two hits for the Rebels.

Krause banged out a pair of hits with a double and three runs scored. Brian LaBlanc was 3-for-3 for the Hawks.

After the opening game, the four remaining teams in Class AA were Proctor, Hermantown, Mora and Cloquet. Those teams were then seeded into the Final Four with Hermantown facing Mora and Cloquet against Proctor. Cloquet beat Proctor 7-2 and the Hawks beat Mora in another thriller 6-5.

Hermantown will face Cloquet in the game featuring two undefeated teams on Tuesday, while the elimination game will feature Proctor and Mora.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com