Legion baseball: Detroit Lakes fends off EGF and Bemidji to stay alive in Sub-State 14 tournament

MOORHEAD – Four plate appearances into Detroit Lakes Sub-State 14 game against East Grand Forks, Cade Jackson’s leash on the mound was about as short as it could get.

Three straight walks before a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch had EGF cooking with gas in Post 15’s second elimination game of the day. However, two sacrifice flies later in the inning were the runs Jackson surrendered for the rest of the game.

Detroit Lakes stormed back from its three-run deficit to win 6-3, staving off elimination for the third time in two days. It’s a win that followed another comeback against Bemidji on Friday morning in an 8-4 win.

“We got some good senior leadership in Bradly Swiers and Jordan Tucker,“ Detroit Lakes head coach Phil Kirchner said. “They’ve been leading us all year offensively, but we got 1-9 hitting for us today. That was the key today–hitting the ball. If the top of the order isn’t hitting well, the rest of the guys have to come through.”

Jackson settled down, allowing just two hits over six innings of work. With his pitch-to-contact approach, he struck out two batters and walked six in a gusty start.

“Cade hasn’t pitched a lot of innings this summer, but he came in and gave us what we needed after a tough start,” Kirchner said. “I was going to let him roll a couple more batters (before taking him out). He ended up getting through six innings. Hats off to him. Everybody is thin on arms at this point, especially us. He did exactly what we needed him to do today.”

Detroit Lakes got on the board when Jordan Tucker scored on a double steal play. Noah Rieber singled in another run during the same at-bat to cut the lead to one in the third inning.

Post 15 took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bradly Sweirs tied it with an RBI single before Kirchner brought home Swiers with an infield base hit.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jordan Tucker tripled in a run before scoring on Jacob Thomas’ single. Thomas came in to pitch the next inning, earning a save with a strikeout and two fly outs.

“Jacob coming in and shutting it down was great,” Kirchner said. “That’s just his third appearance all year because he’s had some injuries. He was lights out. Our pitchers deserve a lot of credit for stepping up. Nobody wants to go down 3-0, but we did, and we didn’t give up.”

Detroit Lakes earned a spot in a second elimination game after beating Bemidji for the first time this year on Friday morning. After losing regular-season doubleheaders in the high school and Legion seasons, Post 15 pulled a rabbit out of its hat win to buy another seven innings.

“We knew we could beat them after playing in close games with them all year long,” Kirchner said. “We didn’t give up, even when they took the lead. We didn’t fold, and that’s what this team does. We played some bad baseball (this summer), but we’ve also played some good baseball. It’s a seven-inning game, and you get to play all seven of them.”

Tucker got things started with an RBI single in the top of the first inning before Reiber doubled the lead with a bunt single in the third.

“He’s a gamer, and we like it when he does stuff like that,” Kirchner said of Rieber. “Guys doing stuff like that are important pieces to this team. If we get down, don’t lay down. Get up and go hard.”

Bemidji got both runs back and then some with a three-run third inning. Tucker tied the game at 3-3 with a two-out single in the fourth before Thomas gave Post 15 the lead for good with a two-RBI double.

“I think our mentality changed,” Riber said. “I think we all want to go up there and hit the ball hard and give us a chance to win. I want to get my job done (at the plate), and I’ll be happy with it.”

Leading 6-4, Rieber singled in an insurance run in the top of the seventh before scoring on a wild pitch. Rieber also was part of Detroit Lakes’ standout middle infield defensive play on Friday, keeping unearned runs off the scoreboard.

“Relieved, I’d say,” Rieber said about what it feels like to win elimination games. “When we lost to Perham, it didn’t look so hopeful. But we bounced back, fought hard and hit the ball pretty great.”

Detroit Lakes takes on top-seeded Moorhead in its fourth elimination game in three days on Saturday at noon.