No. 4 La Crescent-Hokah baseball plates four, rides senior captain Eli McCool to title game

Jun. 3—ROCHESTER — Eli McCool had a hard time sleeping Friday night ahead of the Section 1AA baseball winner's bracket final, and it wasn't just because of nerves.

"I got a lot of family in town just for graduation and stuff, so I was sleeping on an air mattress on the floor," he said. "I shut my phone off at 9:30, but I was tossing and turning until 12:30 a.m. My grandpa's an early riser, so he was banging around in the kitchen waking me up at 4:30. So four hours of sleep, but coffee made up for it."

He didn't show any nerves, though. No. 4 La Crescent-Hokah's senior captain allowed one run on three hits and went 2-for-4 at the plate in route to a 4-1 win over No. 3 Cannon Falls in seven innings.

"I have all the confidence in Eli," coach Ryan Niedfeldt said. "He knew he was going to go to his pitch count. He was my best pitcher, best player, and he definitely is not coming out unless some freak accident or something happens, and that didn't happen today."

McCool had what he called "an alright day" on the mound, striking out six and walking four. He didn't feel his arm was the best, and he struggled to find his off speed pitches early. But he pounded the strike zone with fastballs and got Cannon Falls' hitters to chase and get themselves out.

That approach worked. The Bombers lone run came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior Aaron Melhouse doubled to the right-center gap. Relief pitcher senior Gavin Gray hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Melhouse.

On the other hand, the Lancers plated a run in four of the seven innings, putting pressure on Bombers pitching.

Sophomore Mayes Boyer kickstarted the offense in the first, turning on a 0-1 pitch for a triple to right field. The scoring party started in the second: Junior Brady Grupa singled to left field, and sophomore Alex Von Arx hit a stand up double over the center fielder's head. With two on and one out, Mitchell Reining tapped a short grounder in front of the mound. Grupa scored before Reining was thrown out at first.

Boyer hit a double to left for his second hit of the game, and the Lancers went up 2-0 in the third on a Nathan Masterson RBI single to right center field.

In the fourth, Reining worked a walk after showing bunt all at bat with a runner on.

"My gut instinct is always try to attack and try to put more pressure and try to get as many runs as possible," Niedfeldt said. "When we get guys on base, I always tell everybody on the bench and all 20 kids to just be ready. We could do anything from hit and runs to bunts to try to go hit a home run."

McCool didn't come up with a home run, but he hit a RBI single to center — his first of the game after a little slump.

"I've been in a little slump before today. And starting off 0-for-2, it was rough," he said. "(Coach) always tells me when I'm pitching, hitting's extra. So that takes the pressure off me, and I got back in rhythm."

The Lancers looked to add on to their 3-0 lead in the fifth. Cannon Falls starter Jadan Winchell was pulled for lefty Gavin Gray, and Masterson walked on four pitches.

Grupa grounded to short and Von Arx hit a sacrifice fly to center. Masterson scored, and the Lancers pushed the lead to 4-0.

McCool singled in the sixth, but the Lancers didn't put up a run. The Bombers plated their lone run of the day in the bottom half of the inning.

McCool returned to the mound to start the seventh inning, but he was pulled after 6 2/3 innings after giving up his fourth walk. Junior Kale Baker faced two in his relief outing: He walked the first hitter he faced, then got a fly out to left field to end the game.

"We rode our senior captain Eli McCool. We had some timely hits," Niedfeldt said. "It's not cold out here, and the boys fought for 21 outs. It was great to see — it was a great game. Hats off to Cannon Falls. They're an outstanding team and well coached."

La Crescent-Hokah (18-6) advances to the championship game, which starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 6 at Mayo Field.

The title game will be a rematch of the winner's bracket final: Cannon Falls (19-5) beat Chatfield 5-2 to advance to the Section 1AA title game.