Blossoms come up one run short of miracle comeback
Published 9:05 pm Thursday, May 9, 2024
Blooming Prairie's Lance Lembke releases a pitch against Waseca. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie's Gabe Staloch makes the throw from the shortstop position. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie's Dylan Anderson hauls in a fly ball in right field. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
An errant throw skips past Blooming Prairie catcher Carsten Ingvalson as Waseca scores in the third inning. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie's Alex Lea tries to tag out a Waseca runner at second base. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie's Cale Braaten rounds third base. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
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BLOOMING PRAIRIE – The Awesome Blossoms baseball team suffered through their worst inning of the season, but they were able to bounce back and push Waseca to the brink before ultimately falling short in a 9-8 loss in BP Thursday.
Blooming Prairie pulled within a run when Lance Lembke beat out an infield single to knock in a run in the bottom of the seventh. Initially, BP was given the tying run on a throwing error by Waseca that went out of play, but that runner was moved back to third.
With nobody out, BP’s Carter Bishop lined into a double play and Bo Zweiner struck out to end BP’s threat.
While they couldn’t close things out, BP showed a lot of heart with a big comeback after Waseca (2-8 overall) scored nine runs in the top of the third, including four that were unearned.
“The best thing that happened was that we came back and scored a pile of runs. We didn’t give up after being down 9-0, which is deflating. That’s the biggest thing to take from this one,” BP head coach Matt Kittelson said.
BP scored six runs in the bottom of the third as Dylan Anderson started the rally with a one-out double and stolen base and BP scored four times off of wild pitches in the frame.
BP (6-6 overall) had to use three separate pitchers in the game and freshman Gabe Staloch was highly effective as he struck out five in three hitless innings on the mound.
Kittelson said it would be ideal to stick to one pitcher, but BP is currently down to nine healthy varsity players and he has to make sure nobody goes too far over the pitch count limit in one game.
“It’s tough and you can’t just think about the game that you’re in,” Kittelson said. “You always have to be thinking one or two games ahead.”
BP’s six wins this season are the most the team has had in a year since 2021, when the team went 6-12 overall. But more importantly, BP has only one loss that was by more than four runs this season.
“We’ve been in most of our games this season when in the past, we’ve lost a lot of blowouts,” Kittelson said. “We’ve shown we can play with just about anyone.”
Waseca 009 000 0 – 9 5 1
Blooming Prairie 006 010 1 – 8 5 2
BP pitching: Lance Lembke (L) 3 IP, 5 H, 9 BB, 9 R, 5 ER, 1 K, 2 HBP; Gabe Staloch, 3 IP, 2 BB, 0 R, 5 K; Carsten Ingvalson, 1 IP, 1 BB, 0 R, 1 K
BP hitting: Ingavalson, 0-for-3, R, SB, BB; Brady Kittelson, 1-for-2, R, 3 SB, 2 BBs; Staloch, 0-for-3, R, HBP; Alex Lea, 0-for-2, 2 R, HBP, BB, SB; Cale Braaten, 2-for-3, RBI, 2 R, 2 SB, HBP; Lembke, 1-for-4, RBI; Carter Bishop, 0-for-2, 2 SB, 2 BBs; Bo Zweiner, 0-for-2, SB, BB; Dylan Anderson, 1-for-3, double, SB, R
