Spartans blank Tigers in local showdown

Two days after learning about receiving a disappointing No. 9 seed in the upcoming WIAA playoffs, the Superior High School baseball team took it out on the Northwestern Tigers with a 10-0 six-inning win Tuesday evening at Morrie Arnovich Field.

The Spartans (9-11-1) learned Sunday they will have to play at No. 8 River Falls on Tuesday. The winner will then have to play at No. 1 Stevens Point in a regional final game.

Before the playoffs, the Spartans will wrap up their regular season by hosting Duluth East at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Grant Rindal picked up the win for Superior, allowing two infield hits, one in the second inning and the other in the sixth. He also finished with 11 strikeouts and one walk.

“Today was a nice all around team effort,” SHS coach Don Dembroski said. “Grant pitched excellent and we had offensive contributions from just about everybody. We also had 10 different guys score runs.”

Taavi Mattson and Ryan Myhre led Superior at the plate with two hits, an RBI and a run scored apiece.

Dane Sislo also doubled and had two RBIs; Trent Olson doubled; Jordan McDonald knocked in two runs; and Spencer Severson singled in a run.

Superior scored runs in all but the fifth inning.

Andrew Perry started on the mound for Northwestern and Weston Ogren and Nolan Graff had the Tigers’ hits.

The Tigers (6-15) play at Two Harbors at 4:30 p.m. today. They open WIAA playoff action on Friday at Rice Lake.

SPARTAN SPIN: The Spartan JV defeated Northwestern 10-4. Tyler Lehikoinen got the win for the Spartans, allowing two hits on four hits in four innings. He also struck out two and walked four. Morgen Moen pitched the next three innings, allowing two runs on two hits while striking out five. The Spartans had nine hits, two each from Peyton Flanders and Jake Libal and one eacy from Logan Griffith, Sean O’Neill, Will Mullens, Nate Kunkel and Phil McCotter.

Wood Bat Classic

HIBBING — Superior wrapped up play in the Mike Bugliosi Wood Bat Classic with a 15-9 win over the Proctor Rails Saturday afternoon. The Spartans opened with a 3-0 win over the host Blue Jackets Friday night then lost to Thief River Falls 5-3 Saturday afternoon.

Superior had 13 hits off Proctor pitching, including two home runs by Nik Mattson and another by Colton Yepma.

Superior scored seven runs in the first three innings to build a 7- 2 lead, only to see Proctor come all the way back to take a 9-8 lead on a two-out grand slam by Ben Nelson. The home run came after the Spartans committed a two-out error.

Superior responded with three runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to win 15-9.

Mattson finished with three hits, three runs and four RBIs. Severson added two hits, two runs and an RBI; Sislo had two hits and two RBIs; McDonald had two hits, scored three times and knocked in another; Yepma singled twice and had three RBIs; and Jordan Hughes added a single, sac fly and three RBIs.

Severson picked up the win in relief, allowing four runs (none earned) on two hits in two innings. He also struck out two batters. Myhre and Grant Rindal pitched the final two innings, each facing three batters and striking out one without surrendering a hit.

“It was great to see us swing the bat so well,” SHS coach Don Dembroski said. “We showed much more discipline at the plate. In addition to having seven different guys get hits, we were able to draw eight walks.

“Another nice thing to see, as we get closer to tournament time, is that we were able to regroup after the grand slam and take the lead back and really take control of the game in the final two innings.”

Sislo suffered the complete-game loss to TRF, allowing five earned run on eight hits and four walks while striking out seven.

“Dane had just the one rough inning in the second, but rebounded nicely after that,” Dembroski said.

Sislo also had had two of Superior’s four hits, including a home run that brought the Spartans within 4-3 in the fifth inning. He also singled in the third inning and scored on a wild pitch.

After hitting a single, Mattson scored Superior’s third run scored on Trent Olson’s sac fly in the fourth inning.

McDonald picked up the complete-game win for the Spartans Friday night, scattering six hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

“Jordan pitched an excellent game and made a few nice plays in the field as well,” Dembroski said.

Dylan Takkunen suffered the loss for Hibbing, allowing two hits with five strikeouts in his first varsity start. Chris Hanson gave up two more hits in 2/3 of an inning.

After Superior stranded bases loaded in the third inning it scored the only run it needed in the fourth when Olson and McDonald singled, the two moved up on a double steal and Andy Glonek hit a fielder’s choice ground ball to score Olson.

The Spartans sealed the victory in the seventh inning on RBI singles by Rindal and Severson. Scoring were Taavi Mattson, who walked, and Paul Edwards, who was hit by a pitch.

Derek Abrahamson doubled and singled, Austin Rohwer doubled, Tim Carruth singled twice and Berkley Coombe singled for Hibbing.

SPARTAN SPIN: The SHS JV went 0-2 in the Hibbing Wood Bat tournament, losing to Hibbing 12-7 and to Proctor 7-6 in 10 innings. T. Mattson, Griffith and Phil McCotter pitched for Superior. Griffith had three hits and Nick Hesselgrave had two. Pete Guski, Erick Anderson and Griffith pitched against Proctor. Peyton Flanders had four hits for the Spartans while Lehikoinen pitched in with two.

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