Cannon Falls comes up short in Class AA semifinals, third-place game

Jun. 14—ST. CLOUD — In time the Cannon Falls baseball team may appreciate what it was able to accomplish during the 2023 season. But right now the pain of falling short of a championship appearance stings.

Mistakes proved to be very costly for the Bombers in the Class AA state semifinals on Wednesday.

The No. 5 seed Bombers played No. 1 Esko tough with a berth in the state title game on the line. But walks and a couple of costly errors were Cannon Falls' downfall as Esko rallied to post a 7-2 victory.

After losing the emotional contest to Esko, the Bombers had to play right away in the third-place game and they suffered an 8-6 loss to No. 2 seed Fairmont. The two losses close Cannon Falls' season at 22-7 and it places fourth in Class AA.

"It's frustrating, but that's just how it goes," Cannon Falls senior Ari Wells said. "You just have to play the next pitch, one pitch at a time."

Cannon Falls coach Bucky Lindow guided the 1997 Cannon Falls team to third place at the Class AA state tournament. This year's Bombers squad featured three players who had fathers on that 1997 team.

"It would have been cool to have these guys do what their dads did," Lindow said. "And they were close."

The Bombers may have been playing for a state title if they could have made a few more plays on defense and had a couple of breaks go their way against Esko.

All seven runs scored by the Eskimos were unearned. Cannon Falls held a 2-0 lead after half an inning as Jack Meyers hit a two-run double.

Esko got a run in the third on a throwing error and wild pitch by left-hander Gavin Gray.

Cannon Falls then couldn't survive a fateful fourth inning. Esko had the bases loaded with two outs on two walks an a hit. The Bombers nearly got out of the inning, but an infield error scored two runs for a 3-2 Esko lead.

Gray raced over and almost caught a foul ball to end the inning, which just eluded him. He then walked that hitter and Isaak Sertich followed with a grand slam to break the game open at 7-2.

"It's tough but life has to move on," Lindow said. "Did anything happen in that game we'd like to have back? Of course. There's a couple things I'd like to have back, but you can't press rewind."

The Bombers have been strong defensive all season, which made the semifinal loss even more frustrating to the team. They had just two errors, but both were costly.

"That's tournament baseball, you better go out and make a couple of defensive plays," Lindow said.

The Eskimos won the game and scored seven runs despite getting just three hits.

Esko pitcher Finn Furcht held the Bombers to just two hits and he struck out 12 in 6 1/3 innings. Meyers had both hits for the Bombers.

"He pitched really well," Lindow said. "There was a chance earlier where if I had done something differently we maybe could have gotten some pressure on him."

Esko moves to the Class AA state championship game on Friday at CHS Field in St. Paul.

After falling to Esko, Cannon Falls was back playing Fairmont in the third-place game less than an hour later.

"It's one of the most difficult things, and something I would love to learn," Lindow said. "How to come back after a loss and play immediately."

It took the Bombers a while to get in a groove as Fairmont jumped out to an 8-1 lead after four innings. Cannon Falls scored the game's final five runs, but it wasn't enough.

"They didn't quite get it going emotionally for a few innings, but we swung the bats well," Lindow said. "A couple of defensive mistakes right away."

Wells had three of the Bombers' 10 hits while seniors Elliott Nelson and Jadan Winchell added two each.

"It means a lot, just hanging out with my friends and playing ball," Wells said of the season. "It was a great experience, glad to come here."

The Cannon Falls team featured seven seniors, six of whom where starters.

"In a few days we'll probably think it was really cool, it was really good," Lindow said. "But it will take a while to get that recovery going."

STATE SEMIFINALS

Esko 7, Cannon Falls 2

Cannon Falls#200#000#0#—#2#2#2

Esko#001#600#x#—#7#3#1

No. 5 Cannon Falls: Jack Meyers 2-for-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI; Ari Wells 1 R; Elliott Nelson 1 R. Pitchers: Gavin Gray (LP) 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 7 R, 0 ER, 7 BB, 7 K; Ari Wells 2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.

No. 4 Holy Family: Sam Haugen 1-for-3, 2 R; Isaak Sertich 1-for-3, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 R; Bobb Thornton 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 R. Pitcher: Finn Furcht (WP) 6 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 12 K; Dylan Marciulionis 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.

THIRD-PLACE GAME

Fairmont 8, Cannon Falls 6

Cannon Falls#001#023#0#—#6#10#1

Fairmont#103#400#x#—#8#9#1

No. 5 Cannon Falls: Jack Meyers 1 RBI; Jadan Winchell 2-for-4; Ari Wells 3-for-4, 1 RBI; Jon Banks 1-for-3, 1 R; Elliott Nelson 2-for-2, 1 2B, 1 RBI; Jackson Ekstrom 1-for-3, 1 R; Nick Barrett 1-for-2, 1 3B, 2 R. Pitchers: Ari Wells (LP) 2 1/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Taylor Johnston 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Jadan Winchell 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.

No. 2 Fairmont: Landen Meyerdirk 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 R; Lincoln Becker 2-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R; Nate Soelter 1-for-3, 2 RBI, 1 R; Cooper Steuber 2-for-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R. Pitcher: Sam Haugen (WP) 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.