Lyle/Pacelli comes up just short in Class A state baseball championship game

Jun. 16—ST. PAUL — A season of stellar accomplishments has ended just short of the ultimate goal for the Lyle/Austin Pacelli baseball team.

The Athletics were possibly just a hit away from winning the Class A state championship on Friday, but instead L/P had to settle as the runner-up with a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to Fosston in the title game.

No. 3 seed Lyle/Pacelli (24-2) trailed 3-1 going to the top of the seventh. The Athletics loaded the bases with no outs, but could manage just one run when Hunter VaDeer walked with the bases loaded and one out.

"Just one hit, bases loaded, it's probably something we're going to be thinking of the rest of our lives," Lyle/Pacelli senior Tre Anderson said. "But we've got to just keep going."

After walking in a run, Fosston pitcher Carson Bushee, who started the inning in relief of his brother Hudson, got a strikeout and ground out to end the threat and game. It gave the Greyhounds (24-4), the No. 4 seed, their first state championship in baseball.

"I just feel for the kids," L/P coach Brock Meyer said. "I wish they could have got that big hit. They just fought to the end and that's the way baseball goes sometimes. It's just ups and downs and ebbs and flows."

The Athletics had experienced almost nothing but positive outcomes all season long. They entered the state championship game on a 14-game winning streak since their lone loss to Southland during the regular season.

"This team was like family, we love each other and we do everything together," Anderson said. "It hurts, but we're still going to take all the positives away from this."

The Athletics didn't get their first hit until the fourth inning. They then started to make better contact and had six hits over the final four innings.

"We were trying to hit the ball hard," Meyer said. "And right away in the game we took some pitches we normally swing at. But that's a state playoff game, maybe a little nerves, a little tense to start the game. We started hitting the ball harder ... some of them just didn't fall."

VaDeer had two of L/P's six hits. The Athletics scored their first run in the sixth as Isaac Nelsen, the winning pitcher in the state semifinals, hit a sacrifice fly to cut Fosston's lead to 2-1.

The Greyhounds got what proved to be a big insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on Aaron Norland's two-out RBI double.

L/P ended up leaving the bases loaded in both the fourth and seventh innings.

"We just didn't come up with that hit we needed in the situations today," Meyer said. "I'm still proud of them."

Senior Mac Nelson, who had seen limited duty on the mound this year, had a strong outing for L/P. He allowed just five hits and two earned runs. He struck out three and walked two.

"Mac threw a heck of a game and gave us a chance to win," Meyer said.

"There's some frustration, especially with me since I was pitching on the mound," Nelson said. "But I'm not going to hang my head, we were in the state championship. We lost one game during the whole season ... you want to win the championship, but we had a great season."

L/P was making its first state appearance in baseball since the program co-op for sports back in 1997-98. The season ended with a Southeast Conference title, a Section 1A championship and a state runner-up finish.

"I don't know that anyone expected us to be in this situation at the beginning of the year," Meyer said. "We knew we could do something like this and put on a run like this. I can't say enough about our senior leadership and the pitching that we have this year and the defense that we played all year. It comes down to just a few things here and there in that game."

The L/P squad featured five seniors with Anderson, Nelson and Jake Truckenmiller being starters.

"We had a really fun year playing together and we got our first L/P boys section title," Anderson said. "We didn't get what we wanted, but it's still something to keep our heads up and be happy about."

VaDeer, a sophomore, and Nelsen, a junior, were both named to the Class A All-Tournament team for the Athletics.

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No. 3 Lyle/Pacelli: Landon Meyer 1-for-4; Jake Truckenmiller 1-for-4; Isaac Nelsen 1RBI; Hunter VaDeer 2-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 R; Logyn Brooks 1-for-2; Jack Klingfus 1-for-3, 1 R. Pitcher: Mac Nelson (LP) 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.

No. 4 Fosston: Carson Boushee 1 R; Breckin Levin 2-for-3, 1 2B, 2 R; Aaron Norland 2-for-2, 1 2B, 1 RBI; Zach Theis 1 RBI; Aiden Wolfe 1-for-2. Pitchers: Hudson Boushee (WP) 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K; Carson Boushee (Sv) 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER 2 BB, 2 K.