CHASKA — It was close throughout and Mankato East had no problem generating baserunners.
They just needed an extra ball or two to find a hole somewhere.
The second-seeded Cougars came up one clutch hit short in a 4-3 loss to unseeded Grand Rapids in the Class AAA baseball quarterfinals Thursday at Chaska Athletic Park.
“That’s happened to us a few times this year where we get guys on base, two, three guys and can’t get that key hit,” East coach Micah Degner said. “It happened a couple times today, but we also got a couple key hits today.”
The Thunderhawks got on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning, but East answered back with two runs in the bottom of the third.
After Nate Bridger and Ainsley Stubbs led off the third with singles for the Cougars, Austin Hendley ripped an RBI double to deep left field. The following two East batters struck out with runners in scoring position, but Owen Studtmann hit a two-out single to bring in the second run. The final out of the inning came when an East baserunner was thrown out at home following Studtmann’s single.
Grand Rapids tied the game 2-2 in the top of the fourth and added two more runs in the top of the fifth, which would end up being enough.
The Cougars cut the deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth on a bases-loaded walk from Caden Hansen, but couldn’t get anything else out of the threat.
East wasn’t able to generate a rally to tie the game in the sixth or seventh.
Grand Rapids pitcher Easton Sjostrand allowed three earned runs over seven innings to get the win. The Cougars had seven hits and three walks.
“I thought we had good at-bats at the plate and made their pitcher work,” Degner said. “He did a good job of changing speeds and was just sneaky enough to get some weak contact.”
Added Studtmann: “In some spots, we could’ve executed better, but overall we did pretty well and kept pace with them.”
For East, Bridger started and allowed four earned runs over four innings. Keaton Wojcik tossed two shutout innings in relief, and Nicholas Werk also tossed a scoreless inning in relief.
East will now play a consolation game at noon Friday at Jordan.
“Wish the game could’ve turned out differently, but we’ve got another tomorrow and we’re going to come out ready to play,” Studtmann said.
It’s been a special season for the Cougars, as this is the program’s first trip to the state tournament since 2010 and third appearance in program history.
They won’t get a chance to make a run in the winner’s bracket, but with only two seniors on the team, there isn’t much doubt about the goal next season.
“We’re a great team … I’m confident that we can come back to state next year,” Studtmann said.
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