Grand Rapids baseball sweeps their way into the state semifinals
The Grand Rapids baseball team pushed past the second seeded Mankato East Cougars on Thursday morning in a close 4-3 Class AAA state quarterfinal match in Chaska.
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The Thunderhawks would score first in the top of the second inning. They would hold the Cougars until the bottom of the third, where the Cougars would come back with two runs, bringing them to a 2-1 lead.
After another runner scored in the top of the fourth, the Thunderhawks would dominate the game with two more runs in the top of the fifth and would hold the Cougars to only a single run in the bottom of the inning.
“The off-speed is working really good. Fastball, I get to demand it too. Just got to get ahead in the count so you can feel free at the end,” senior pitcher Easton Sjostrand said. “They always love it when I pitch because I always throw strikes, and they can always be ahead and ready for the play.”
“We bunted the ball when we had to. We got a big couple bunt base hits, or one for sure, and we got big hits when we needed to,” head coach Bill Kinnunen said.
The Thunderhawks have moved into the state semifinal round against the Mahtomedi Zephyrs, which will be played noon on Friday back at the Chaska Athletic Park.
For more information, go to 2024 State Class AAA Baseball Tournament | MSHSL
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