Morristown Season Ends with One Bad Inning

One Morristown bad inning is all it took for the Isanti Redbirds to defeat the Morries 5-0 in the opening round of the Class C State Amateur Baseball Tournament.  The game in Delano was scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. and did not get underway until 8:16 p.m.

It was the first trip to state in 30 years for Morristown and I think nearly the entire town was in Delano.  It was awesome to see the sea of red Morries State 2019 shirts.  Morristown had to win every game in the loser's bracket of Region 6 to advance to State so they had 5 straight wins.

Right handed pitcher Tate Harmon took the hill with the first batter leaning into a pitch with an 0-1 count and gaining first base.  It was a precursor of things to come.  Following a double play the next batter was also hit. This time the pitch was at his feet and he did try to get out of the way. Then a single before the inning closed with no Isanti runs scored.

In the top of the first inning Bryan Lamont smacked a one out single and went to second base on a passed ball but was stranded there.  Two strikeouts of Morries hitters in the first was also a precursor of things to come.

All the scoring in the game came in the second inning which opened with a single and a walk.  The #6 hitter in the order for the Redbirds singled to start the inning and was thrown out trying to steal second base.  He never even tried to slide.  The next batter walked, then a single.  A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third base before the #9 hitter in the order was walked to load the bases.

The leadoff hitter who leaned into a pitch in the first inning was hit again scoring a run.  The next batter clubbed a two run single and the Redbirds were flying.  The #3 hitter in the order was also hit by a pitch ending Harmon's night.

He went 1 1/3 innings facing 12 batters with 4 hits allowed, no strikeouts, 2 walks, 4 hit batters, 43 total pitches, 21 strikes.

Draftee Lee Hodges of Blue Earth came in and threw 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.  However, the first batter he faced Hodges hit the bill of his helmet with a pitch scoring another run.  Matt Saemerow threw the final inning with a strikeout and a hit allowed.

With the count 1-1 the next batter popped up, the infield fly rule was called automatically making him out.  The Morries shortstop dropped the ball.  The runner from first broke for second and was tagged out for the third out of the inning.  A couple runs crossed the plate and were put on the scoreboard to make it 7-0.  The umpire told the scorekeeper to take off a run making the score 6-0.  I thought at the time the score should be 5-0.  The State Board made a ruling about 5 innings later that the score should be 5-0.

Isanti right handed pitcher James Green was throwing some serious gas.  Green went 7 innings and struck out 12 Morristown batters with no walks and 4 hits allowed.  10 of the 12 strikeouts were swinging.  Green struck out every batter in the Morries order at least once.  He threw 82 pitches, 63 strikes.

Left handed pitcher Taylor Wink took the mound for the final two innings with no hits allowed, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks.  Wink threw 29 pitches, 20 strikes.

Isanti finished the game with 7 hits.  6 runners left, two in scoring position.

The 4 hits for Morristown were collected by Bryan Lamont, Ben Lamont, Bradley Van Diense and Tate Harmon.  All were singles.  All were early in the count.  If Green got two strikes on a batter it was lights out.

The Morries left 6 runners on base, 2 in scoring position.

Morristown pitchers finished the game with 6 hit batters.

Region 5 representative Stewartville-Racine played the game ahead of the Morristown contest and was defeated 14-6.  The game was tied at 6 going into the 9th inning before Buckman erupted for 8 runs to put the game away.

Prior Lake defeated Foley 4-1 to continue in the tournament.

In Class B Dundas cruised by Coon Rapids 10-0 cranking out 17 hits while holding the Rockies to 5.  Todd Mathison threw the first 7 innings for the win with 8 strikeouts and no walks.

The Dukes had 4 doubles.  Hayden Lanoue tallied 4 hits at the top of the order. Nate Van Roekel smacked 3 hits with 4 RBI.  Tyler Jones had a pair of hits and pair of RBI.

Miesville advanced with a 6-2 win over the Moorhead Mudcats despite 4 errors.

Northfield won 5-2 over Beaudreau's of St. Cloud.  Jake Mathison went the distance for the Knights scattering 6 hits.  Mathison struck out 3 and walked 1 batter.

The Knights made the most of their 6 hits and got a little help with Beaudreau's committing 4 errors in the game.  Jake Mathison had 2 hits.  Nick Bornhauser 2 RBI with a homer and Eric Pitman clubbed a home run.

Northfield will play defending Class B Champion Chanhassen Friday, August 23 at 7:30 p.m..  All next round games are in Dassel.

Dundas plays Saturday, August 24 at 4:30 p.m. against today's winner between Cold Spring and Victoria.

Miesville faces the winner of today's Chaska vs. Anoka game on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.