Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team nips Hayfield 5-4 Friday

In a game you heard from Hayfield on AM 1480 KAUS, it was a matchup of two of the top teams in Section 1A, and in the state as the No. 2 ranked Lyle/Pacelli Athletics, playing their sixth game in five days took on three-time defending section champion and No. 6 ranked Hayfield in a non-conference game, and it was the Athletics sending eight men to the plate and scoring four unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning to clip the Vikings by a score of 5-4.

Hayfield got on the board first in the bottom of the third inning as they utilized two singles, three stolen bases and an error to take a 2-0 lead, but Lyle/Pacelli answered back in the top of the fourth when leadoff hitter Hunter VaDeer singled and went to second on an error in left field, one of five the Vikings would commit in the game.  After a sacrifice fly from cleanup hitter Jake Truckenmiller to center moved VaDeer to third, Isaac Nelsen followed with an RBI single to cut Hayfield’s lead to 2-1.

The Athletics took the lead for good, as it turned out, in the top of the sixth inning when leadoff hitter Dane Schara reached on an error at shortstop.   Catcher Logyn Brooks followed with a single to move Schara to second, and both moved ahead 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt up the first base line from third baseman Jack Klingfus.  After a walk to left fielder Trey Anderson loaded the bases, Landon Meyer lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Schara to tie the game at 2-2.  Mac Nelson then reached on another Hayfield error, this one at third base to score Brooks to put LP ahead 3-2, and then Vikings starting pitcher Eric Bermea uncorked a pair of wild pitches to score Anderson and Nelson to put the Athletics ahead, 5-2.

Jake Truckenmiller then came in to pitch for Lyle/Pacelli with one out in the bottom of the sixth in relief of starter Hunter VaDeer, who gave up two runs, one earned, on three hits, striking out 11 and walking three.  Truckenmiller hit the first batter he faced, second baseman Hunter Simonson, who then advanced to third on a stolen base and a passed ball, but he was stranded at third when Truckenmiller came back with a pair of strikeouts to keep Lyle/Pacelli’s lead at 5-2.

After the Athletics were retired in the top of the seventh, the Vikings quickly indicated that they would not go quietly in their last at-bat as leadoff hitter Ethan Pack singled to start the inning.  After Truckenmiller retired Eric Bermea on a popup to first baseman Landon Meyer, third baseman Aiden Nelson doubled, sending Pack to third base.  Cleanup hitter Isaac Nelson reached on an error to score Pack from third to make the score 5-3, and Nelson reached second safely on an error when the following hitter, center fielder Cole Selk hit into a fielder’s choice.  With the bases now loaded, Truckenmiller got designated hitter Zander Jacobson to hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out that scored Nelson from third to cut the Athletics lead to 5-4.  He then hit Hunter Simonson with a pitch to reload the bases, and that put the tying run at third and the winning run at second, but catcher Corbin Krueger then hit a fly ball to center that was stabbed by VaDeer, who came sprinting in to make the catch to give Lyle/Pacelli the win.

Offensively for Lyle/Pacelli, Isaac Nelsen wound up going 1 for 4 with his RBI single, Mac Nelson was 1 for 4 with a run scored, Hunter VaDeer went 1 for 2 with a run scored, Jake Truckenmiller was 1 for 4 with a double, Logyn Brooks went 1 for 4 with a run scored, Jack Klingfus was 1 for 3 with a double, and Landon Meyer picked up an RBI with his sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth.

VaDeer earned the win on the mound with his 11-strikeout performance, and Truckenmiller was credited with a save, pitching the last 1 and 2/3rds of an inning and giving up two runs, one earned, on two hits, striking out two and walking none.

With the win, the Athletics are now 16-1 on the season, and Lyle/Pacelli will finish their seven-game in six-day oddessey with a non-conference game at Marcusen Park Saturday versus Blooming Prairie, and they will then wrap up the regular season with a game Monday in Goodhue versus the Wildcats, with first pitch Monday afternoon scheduled for 4 p.m.