sports

SACRED HEART BASEBALL BALKS OFF RED LAKE COUNTY, ADVANCES TO STATE

June 6, 2024

The Sacred Heart Eagles scored a walk off run on a balk in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs to lift the Eagles to a 2-1 win over Red Lake County for the championship of Section 8A played at the Jim Karn Field in Crookston. Sacred Heart played small ball to score both runs, getting one in the fifth inning with Isaac Sundby singled, was sacrifice to second and with two outs, Elliot Arntson singled in Sundby to tie up the game at that time. Red Lake County scored in the fourth inning with Will Gieseke getting a single, the first hit of the Eagles Parker Erickson who retired the first nine batters he faced. Gieseke stole second and then went to third on a throwing error by the catcher. The next batter, Ben Gullingsrud grounded out to second base to bring in Gieseke with the first run of the game. Erickson was tough on the mound for Sacred Heart with no walks and nine strikeouts in going the distance. In the bottom of the seventh, Gullingsrud registered his eighth strikeout of the game. The Eagles Mike Gapp, batting ninth, singled and went to second on a throwing error, the Rebels second of the game, and Gapp eventually got to third on another groundout, with left it up to Josiah Sundby. With two outs and a runner on third and two strikes, Gapp started stealing home with Gullingsrud starting his windup. He was surprised by Gapp running down the line to home and threw the ball home and Gapp was tagged out and it appeared it was going extra innings, but the umpires said that Gullingsrud didn’t finish his pitching motion correctly and called the balk and that scored the run and gave Sacred Heart a win that not many baseball have seen before, a walk off run by a balk!!! You can hear what both coaches said about the balk and about the game down below.

First Inning
Red Lake County went down 1-2-3, as did Sacred Heart

Second Inning
Another 1-2-3 inning for Red Lake County and two strike outs for Eagles pitcher Parker Erickson. Sacred Heart had two foul ball pop outs with great catcher by diving Blake Breiland and first baseman, Blake Audette. A hit batter was left stranded at second.

Third Inning
Erickson retired the Rebels 1-2-3 again with a strikeout. Erickson threw 28 pitches in the first three innings. Isaac Sundby led off with a walk, sacrificed to second, Arntson walked and with one out and runners on first and second, Gullingsrud struck out the next two batters.

Fourth Inning
Gieseke broke through with the first hit of the game, then the lead off hitter stole second and then got third on a throwing error into the outfield. On the first pitch Gullingsrud bounced one to second base and was thrown out, but Gieske scored on the play to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead.
Gullingsrud was sharp setting down Sacred Heart 1-2-3 with two strikeouts.

Fifth Inning
Erickson got a couple strikeouts but did give up a double to the Rebels designated hitter, Dawson Erickson, but he was stranded at second.
Sacred Heart had a single by Isaac Sundby, he was sacrifice to second by Gapp and scored on Arntson’s single to tie the game at 1-1

Sixth Inning
Red Lake County had singles by Gullingsrud and Brock Seeger with one out. Blake Audette bounced to short and was thrown out, but the runners moved up to second and third with two out, but Colin Taggert flew out to center field to end the threat.
Sacred Heart started the inning with a walk and hit batter, but Gullingsrud retired the next three batters including a strikeout to get out of the jam.

Seventh Inning
Parker Erickson retired the Rebels in a 1-2-3 fashion in the seventh with his ninth strikeout of the game.
Ben Gullingsrud, an eighth grader, struck out the first batter and then gave up a single to Mike Gapp and a throwing error sent Gapp to second with one out. Arntson grounded out moving Gapp to third and with two outs and a runner at third and two strikes on the batter, in Gullingsrud’s wind up, Gapp was on his horse to try and steal home and after first being called out at home, the umpires changed the game by calling a balk on Gullingsrud’s. The umpires did get together for a conference and again ruled a balk, game over with Sacred Heart winning 2-1.

Sacred Heart is now 19-3 and will go back to the Minnesota State Class A Tournament at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud on Thursday. The eight section champion coaches will seed the tournament on Sunday and that will be when the Eagles find out who they play.

Red Lake County finishes the year at 17-7

KROX RADIO will carry ALL the Sacred Heart State Tournament games next week!!

Coach Bethke’s Comments: