The Sacred Heart Eagles Baseball team hit three home runs and scored 15 runs to soar past the Northern Freeze in the first round of the Section 8A Baseball Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
Senior Sam Gapp got the start on the mound for Sacred Heart and set the tone early with a 1-2-3 top of the first inning that included two strikeouts. Sacred Heart then scored three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-0 lead. Cullen Rohrich led off with a double, and after a groundout, Sam Gapp singled him home for a 1-0 lead. Two batters later Nick Brundin delivered a towering shot over the left field fence for a two-run home run to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
After another 1-2-3 inning for Gapp on the mound, Sacred Heart would add to their lead. David Larson would hit a 1-out double, and Cullen Rohrich would then launch a long ball over the left field fence for another two run home run to give Sacred Heart a 5-0 lead after two innings of play. The Eagles two home runs in the first two innings accounted for four of their five runs.
Ethan Arntson was then inserted onto the mound for the top of the third inning, and like Gapp, had no issues getting another 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts to quickly get Sacred Heart back into the dugout. The Eagles blew the game open in the bottom of the frame scoring seven runs to take a commanding 12-0 lead. Sacred Heart added four more hits in the inning, two walks, and took advantage of two mistakes from the Freeze to score their seven runs. The inning was highlighted by another home run, this time a two-run home run from Sam Gapp.
The Freeze would get Caleb Bray aboard on a Sacred Heart error to lead off the top of the fourth inning, and after a balk was called, Bray would steal third base and come home to score on a sac fly to put the Freeze on the scoreboard. Arntson would work out of the rest of the inning giving Sacred Heart a 12-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
Sacred Heart would tack on three more runs in the top of the fourth inning with a 1-out hit from Caden Reimer, an Isaac Zavoral walk, Breck Bloom single, and Isaac Telle single before the Freeze recorded the final out of the inning. That gave Sacred Heart a 15-1 lead after four innings of play and meant the Freeze would need to score at least five runs in the top of the fifth to keep their season alive due to the run rule.
Josiah Sundby pitched the final inning for Sacred Heart, and while the Freeze did get thier first hit of the game, they failed to score a run, giving Sacred Heart the 15-1 win in 5 innings.
The Eagles improve to 17-3 on the season and will play again tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. in Greenbush. KROX will carry the game starting with the RiverView Health pregame show at 9:30 a.m.
SACRED HEART COACH PAUL BETHKE’S COMMENTS ARE BELOW
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
| N. Freeze | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Sacred Heart | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | – | 15 | 14 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Sam Gapp- Sacred Heart (WP) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Ethan Arntson- Sacred Heart | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Josiah Sundby- Sacred Heart | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Caleb Bray- Northern Freeze (LP) | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Cade Knutson- Northern Freeze | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Issak Anderson- Northern Freeze | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
For Sacred Heart –
Cullen Rohrich 2 for 4, Home Run, 2 rbi, 2 runs, 2 SB
Sam Gapp 2 for 3, Home Run, 3 rbi, 2 runs, SB
Nick Brundin, 1 for 3, Home Run, 2 rbi, run
Caden Reimer, 3 for 3, 2 runs, rbi, 2 SB
For Northern Freeze –
Reece Sunberg, Sac Fly, RBI
Riley Duray, 1 for 2
Caleb Bray, run
