Baseball: Morrison outlasts AFC in regional semifinal slugfest

STERLING – When the Morrison Mustangs blew the game wide open Wednesday, the AFC Raiders rallied. But it turned out to be too little, too late.

Morrison used an eight-run fifth inning to take control of a Class 1A Newman Regional semifinal, but AFC fought back with four-run innings in the fifth and sixth.

In the end, the Mustangs held on for a 13-9 victory to advance to Saturday morning’s regional championship game against the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between Amboy and host Newman.

[ Photos of Morrison vs. AFC in 1A Newman Regional semifinals ]

AFC (14-9) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, when Carson Rueff singled and Jordan Harris tripled in back-to-back at-bats.

But Morrison (6-14) came back to take a 3-1 lead over the next two innings, scoring two of those runs on two-out errors; starting pitcher Aydan Meinsma helped his own cause with a two-out RBI single in the third.

The Mustangs broke it open in the top of the fifth. They sent 12 batters to the plate, had seven different players score runs, and five different guys had RBIs in the inning.

“We just needed energy. Last night at practice, we talked to our dugout and said, ‘We just need energy from you, that’s all we need,’ and our dugout did us good,” junior Brenden Martin said. “They started talking, chanting, and as you can see, it turned out pretty well.”

Carson Strating singled, then Martin and Meinsma walked to load the bases. Jake Reed followed with an RBI single to left, then Martin scored on a wild pitch. Ethan Schroeder ripped an RBI double to left to drive in Meinsma, then Reed scored on another wild pitch for a 7-1 lead.

A walk to Koltin Swaim put runners on first and third, and after Swaim stole second without a throw, AFC reliever Harris got a strikeout for the second out. But Collin Renkes smacked a two-out RBI single, then Strating followed with his second hit of the inning, this one a two-run double to deep left field. He then scored on Martin’s RBI single to left for an 11-1 lead.

“After one or two guys got hits and got on base, we just start rolling,” Martin said. “Me personally, I didn’t get much to swing at, per usual, but we were just being patient. We weren’t chasing pitches, we weren’t forcing it. We were waiting for our pitch and driving it.”

But the Raiders found their mojo at the plate in the bottom of the fifth. Auden Polk beat out an infield single and Caleb Thomas blooped a single to short right field. Aaron Lester then beat out a slow roller for the second infield hit of the inning to load the bases.

Rueff singled home Polk, then Harris was hit by a pitch to force in Thomas. Griffin Bushman hit a one-out ground ball that went for a fielder’s choice to drive in Lester, but the throw to second hit Harris and bounced away, and Rueff sprinted home on the error to cut the deficit to 11-5.

“I think the seniors really realized that this could be our last game ever, so we had to pick it up or we were going to go home losing big,” Rueff said. “I think we just settled in, got the nerves out a little bit. We really hadn’t been in this position before, and it took a little bit for us to settle in. Once we did that, we started to play our game. It was just too late.”

In the top of the sixth, Ethan Schroeder drew a two-out walk, then Swaim singled him to second and Danny Mouw drove him in with a single to right to make it 12-5 Mustangs.

But again AFC had an answer. Nolan Rueff led off the bottom of the sixth with a bloop single, then went to second on a wild pitch on a third strike that allowed Polk to reach first; they both moved up a base on another wild pitch. Lester followed with a one-out RBI single on the infield, then after Polk scored on yet another wild pitch, Carson Rueff singled and Harris ripped a two-run single to drive in both Lester and Carson Rueff to cut the deficit to 12-9.

“You could hear the dugout was getting way rowdier. Like Carson was saying, we realized this is it, and we had to battle back or else it’s our last game and the seniors are going home,” Harris said. “I think we all had belief in our teammates that we were all going to get up to bat and get a hit and keep it going, and that’s what happened in those later innings.”

Swaim came on in relief after Meinsma threw his 100th pitch on the Harris base hit and got a strikeout and groundout to head into the seventh with the three-run cushion.

“In that fifth inning, I got a little tired, but we just kept our heads in it and refocused. We knew we had to just play ball,” said Meinsma, who struck out five, walked one and hit a batter. “As soon as I got those runs, I had a big confidence boost, I knew I just had to throw strikes and let them put it in play. I knew my defense had my back.”

Strating and Martin walked to start the top of the seventh – Martin’s fourth walk of the game – then Reed loaded the bases with a one-out bloop single to short right field. Strating scored on a wild pitch, but Carson Rueff – AFC’s fourth pitcher of the game – limited the damage to just the one run with a strikeout and a comebacker to end the inning.

But AFC couldn’t get a rally going for the third straight inning. Nolan Rueff singled down the right-field line with one out, but a diving catch in left-center field by Morrison’s Renkes robbed Polk of a single, then Swaim got a popout to third to end the game.

Strating finished 2 for 4 with a double, three runs and two RBIs, Ethan Schroeder went 2 for 2 with a double, two runs and an RBI, and Reed was 2 for 5 with a run and an RBI for the Mustangs. Meinsma scored twice and drove in a run, Martin reached base five times and scored three runs and drove in another, and Swaim had a pair of singles and scored a run. Mouw and Renkes added RBIs, and Renkes also scored once for Morrison.

Harris was 2 for 3 with a triple and four RBIs, and Carson Rueff went 3 for 3, reaching base four times and scoring three runs to go with an RBI. Lester was 3 for 4 from the leadoff spot with a pair of runs and an RBI, and Nolan Rueff finished 2 for 3 with a run scored. Bushman added an RBI for the Raiders, Polk scored twice, and Thomas also scored.

It’s the end of a school year that saw the Raiders have consistently more success in every sports season than they’ve had in recent years, something Harris and his fellow seniors are proud of.

“Just this whole year has been big for us,” Harris said. “In football, we hadn’t won a game in five years and we got six wins and made the playoffs. That set the tone, and I think as a senior class, we realized that this is it, let’s leave a legacy for our school to remember, and it just carried over into all the other sports.”