After successful runs in the District 10 American Legion baseball tournament, the teams from Hopkins and Excelsior were unable to build on that momentum at last week's American Legion State Tournament in New Ulm.
Hopkins, which captured the District 10 title a week earlier, mustered only 10 hits in two games and was eliminated on the first day of the state tournament on Thursday, July 30.
Hopkins actually led Willmar 4-0 after two innings in its first round game, but proceeded to surrender five unanswered runs including one in the bottom of the ninth to fall 5-4.
Run scoring hits by Kyle Dalton and Max Forster in the top of the second inning helped Hopkins take a 4-0 lead behind starting pitcher Matt Rowley.
Rowley ran into trouble, however, in the bottom of the fifth inning when he walked three Willmar batters and the Hopkins defense committed two errors. Willmar scored three times in the inning to tie the game at four.
That score held until the bottom of the ninth inning when Willmar got a lead-off double from its lead-off hitter Logan Birkland, who then came around to score the winning run on a single to right field.
Rowley went five innings for Hopkins and gave up six hits and four runs though he didn't figure in the decision. Aaron Chez-Shaw took the loss in relief after pitching three innings and giving up just the two hits in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Needing to rally for a victory in the loser's bracket to stay alive in the tournament, Hopkins' bats went cold in a 4-1 loss to New Ulm later in the day.
Hopkins got a strong pitching performance from starting pitcher Sean Borman, but could only tally five hits and the one run in the losing effort.
Borman went eight innings, giving up just five hits and two walks while striking out six. Borman was bit by a couple of miscues in the field behind him as three Hopkins errors led to three unearned runs.
New Ulm did most of its damage in the bottom of the third inning when it scored three unearned runs on only two hits.
Hopkins mounted a two-out rally in the top of the eighth inning as they loaded the bases. Rowley walked to force in one run, but New Ulm pitcher Garrett Fischer got Patrick Page to strike out to end the threat.
Fischer struck out 13 Hopkins batters on the day during a sparkling performance as he worked all nine innings and gave up just five hits.
Like Hopkins, Excelsior also lost its first two games and was eliminated on day one of the tournament.
Excelsior's bats were silenced in game one by the Holy Angels tandem of Steven Maher and Kris Kwak.
Maher worked the first six and two thirds innings and allowed no runs and just three hits while striking out 10. Kwak entered in the middle of the seventh inning and went two and one thirds innings without allowing a single base runner.
Despite a strong pitching performance from their own starter Mark Ulrich, Excelsior found itself on the short side of a 2-0 final score.
Ulrich went eight innings and gave up just two runs on seven hits, but was the tough-luck loser on the mound.
Holy Angels scored single runs in both the bottom of the fourth and sixth innings to earn the victory.
Excelsior's bats came around in game two to the tune of 11 runs and 17 hits, but their pitching faltered in a 12-11 10-inning loss to Grand Rapids.
Excelsior scored six times in the top of the fifth inning to take an 8-5 lead. After five consecutive singles, Steven Kordonowy hit a two-run triple to cap the inning and give Excelsior a three-run lead.
After Grand Rapids reclaimed a 9-8 lead, Excelsior went ahead again in the top of the ninth inning with three runs to take an 11-9 lead. Mitch Oakes hit a solo homerun in the inning to help Excelsior's cause.
But Grand Rapids countered with two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a two-run homerun and then won it with a run in the bottom of the 10th.
The good news for Excelsior is that its season is not over. Because Excelsior is hosting the Central Plains Regional this week from Aug. 6-10 at Veterans Field, it receives an automatic berth along with the state champions from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The winner of the Central Plains Regional will move on to the American Legion World Series, played at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo, N.D., on Aug. 14-18.
Excelsior is slated to play the state champion from Kansas on Thursday, Aug. 6 at approximately 7:30 p.m.
