Jacks Fall In First Round Of State Baseball

Wes Vork-NSO

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June 17

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

ST.CLOUD- Head boys baseball coach Rick Stowell knew that Mankato East was a very good team and their overall record shouldn’t be taken for granted. Mankato East came in strong Thursday morning in the opening round game of the State AA boys’ baseball tournament to defeat the Lumberjacks 5-2 at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud.

Mankato East jumped out first on a two-run home run by Adam Geiger that gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead after one inning. Geiger’s homerun drove in Griffen Kozitta, who walked to start the bottom of the first inning. The Lumberjacks were stymied by Cougar pitcher Dan Lindstrom for the first three innings going down in order.

Cloquet’s Peter LaCourse got the first hit in the top of the fourth inning. After a sacrifice by Connor Stowell, LaCourse moved to second base. A single by Tyler Tollerud moved LaCourse to third, but he got no further as the Lumberjacks stranded two runners in the fourth. Mankato East added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning with two back to back lead off singles from Derek Quame and Seth Allen. Quame and Allen both scored, one on a Lumberjack error and the other on a single from Martin Stevens.

The Cougars added one more run in the fifth inning when Derek Quam hit a solo home run to make the lead 5-2. Cloquet added one more run in the top of the seventh inning when Thomas Rodgers led off with a single and came around to score on a RBI single from Tyler Tollerud.

The Lumberjacks were left with a lot of “what ifs” during the contest, leaving seven runners on base with four of those in scoring position. Both Peter LaCourse and Tyler Tollerud went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Connor Stowell was 1-for-3 with a RBI, and August Reynolds and Adam Hanson were also 1-for-3.

The Lumberjacks fall to 20-8 on the season and move into the consolation bracket of the Class AA tournament where they will face St. Anthony Village at 3 pm. St. Anthony fell to Delano by a score of 3-2 in the other quarterfinal game of the bracket.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com