Woodpeckers sweep Moorhead, garner momentum ahead of Sub-State
Jul. 10—BEMIDJI — Bemidji American Junior Legion baseball head coach Travis Carruth gathered his players for an extended meeting on the field in the middle of the fifth inning.
Tied 2-2 in the second game of Monday's doubleheader against Moorhead, the Woodpeckers' bats went cold at the worst time. Needing a jolt, Carruth regrouped his team before its final three at-bats.
"I told them to keep their foot on the gas and just try to scrape together a couple more (runs)," he said. "Our bats went silent for a few innings there. It was just about trying to put together some better at-bats and just get back into it offensively."
Bemidji exploded for nine runs over the next two innings, leading to an 11-2 triumph and a doubleheader sweep. The win followed a 7-3 victory in the first game. Carruth hopes Monday is a preview of what's to come on Friday, July 14, at the Sub-State F Tournament in Moorhead.
"It's a great momentum boost, especially against (Moorhead), the team we're playing on Friday," Carruth said. "Taking two from them today gives us a lot of momentum heading into the playoffs. We're looking to ride that."
The Woodpeckers got a complete-game effort from Brailen Lussier in game one. He allowed just six hits without an earned run while also striking out five batters.
A pair of bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the first inning preluded Owen Frazier's RBI double in the third. Moorhead tied the game in the top of the fourth inning with three unearned runs.
Lussier helped his cause with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, then two more runs crossed with a hit batter and a walk with the bases loaded. James Garrison added an RBI single to make it 7-3.
Bemidji took a 2-0 lead in its final regular-season game in the bottom of the second inning. Eli Kringen doubled in a pair of runs with a two-out line drive into left field.
"We've been preaching it all year, getting guys on and finding ways to move the runners over with our bats," Carruth said. "With two outs, put the ball in play and run hard. Make something happen. Make them make a play. We did a really good job of that today."
The Woodpeckers surrendered only one earned run in game two. Gary Morehart tossed four efficient innings, striking out two batters and allowing just one hit. Dylan Lundin threw the final three innings, surrendering just two hits and striking out a pair of Moorhead batters.
Carruth was impressed with all of his pitcher's ability to keep hitters guessing at the plate.
"In both games, all of our pitchers did a good job of that today," Carruth continued. "That's what we want them to do — fill up the strike zone, mix their speeds well and keep guys off-balanced."
Despite minimal pushback from Moorhead offensively, Bemidji found itself tied midway through the fifth inning. Frazier broke the draw with an RBI single, then Lussier made it 4-2 with a knock of his own in the next at-bat. A Moorhead error and a wild pitch plated two more runs before the inning ended.
Bemidji tacked on five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Lussier and Kobe Brown tallied RBI singles. Frazier brought home another with a sacrifice fly.
If the Woodpeckers were looking for a good omen heading into the Sub-State F Tournament on Friday, sweeping their first-round opponent to close the regular season is a good start. However, the defending tournament champions present more youth than a summer ago, requiring more leadership in adverse situations.
"We're a relatively young team compared to last year," Carruth said. "We've had a lot of younger guys step up here as of late. Today, we just let our older guys lead because they could tell when something needed to be said and someone needed to be picked up. They did a really good job of that and improved on that greatly this season."
Bemidji's
2022 tournament run
was perfect, culminating in a 3-0 championship win over East Grand Forks. The Woodpeckers have
won the last two Sub-State F Tournaments
and have been a regular at the Junior Legion State Tournament as of late. It all starts with a first-round matchup.
"Win game one," Carruth said on what Bemidji needs to do to repeat its postseason success. "If you can get into the winner's bracket out of that first round and not have to play six ball games, that's huge. The biggest thing in playoff baseball is you have to throw strikes and play good defense. The bats always seem to go silent at some point. Runs will be at a premium."
Bemidji 7, Moorhead 3
MHD 000 300 0 — 3-6-0
BEM 201 031 X — 7-9-4
WP: Lussier (CG, 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K)
LP: Pettigrew (2.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K)
Bemidji 11, Moorhead 2
MHD 000 110 0 — 2-3-2
BEM 020 045 X — 11-8-2
WP: LundIn (3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K)
LP: Cusey (5 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K)
