歪歪漫画

BEMIDJI 鈥� To borrow a quote from Yankee legend Yogi Berra, the seventh inning of game two between the Bemidji American Legion baseball team and the Perham Buzz felt 鈥渓ike deja vu all over again.鈥�

Holding a three-run lead in the seventh inning, the Centaurs were hoping not to repeat what happened in game one.

Trailing 3-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning and down to its last three outs in the first leg of the doubleheader, the Perham bats started to wake up. After getting their first run from a Lyam Schumacher double, the Buzz brought in two more runs, thanks to a single and a sacrifice fly to tie the ballgame at three.

Perham didn鈥檛 stop there. In extra innings, the Buzz drove in two more runs after a Bradyn Anderson double and a Bemidji fielding error.

The Centaurs鈥� bats couldn鈥檛 respond in the bottom half of the inning, shockingly losing 5-3.

Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer

鈥淭he situational hitting was bad,鈥� head coach Otto Grimm said. 鈥淪ome bad errors in the field and a few mental mistakes that just kind of caught up to us. Just wasn't our best effort.鈥�

Fast forward to game two. Once again, Bemidji held a three-run edge, this time leading 6-3. Yet again, Perham found some clutch hits off of Bemidji pitching. Gavin Griffin beat a throw to first for an RBI bunt, making it 6-4 with runners on the corners and the go-ahead run at the plate.

Perham seemed to call for a double steal, but Griffin got caught in a rundown. A run scored, but the bases were empty with two outs, now in a 6-5 ballgame.

Gunner Ganske closed it out on the mound from there, forcing an infield popup two batters later to close out the win.

鈥淏aseball's got a funny way of keeping you on your toes,鈥� Grimm said of the last inning of game two. 鈥淚 was confident, though, we had the right guys out there. Had confidence in the pitchers, the fielders. They never seemed to let the moment get too big. Of course, there's nerves, but a lot of confidence that they'd get the job done there.鈥�

The Centaurs sensed they were in a similar position in game two, but they used lessons learned from a few hours earlier to close out the Buzz.

鈥淚 mean, after the second time around, we knew what to do,鈥� Bemidji right fielder Max Bahr said. 鈥淲e knew we needed to just stop, take a minute, just bear down and just get the outs, because that's what we needed to do.鈥�

Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer

Bahr had the most impactful hit in game two with the bases loaded and no outs, with Perham holding on to a 3-2 lead. After Colten Vaughn scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, Bahr belted a line drive to left field, a clutch two-RBI double to give the Centaurs a 5-3 lead.

鈥淚 was thinking, 鈥楧on鈥檛 strike out,鈥欌�� Bahr said. 鈥淗appy to finally be in the lead, though.鈥�

After the bats went cold in game one, Grimm was glad the Centaurs made adjustments in game two.

鈥淲e just said it seems like a lot of guys are trying to do a little bit too much, maybe pressing a little bit, and I just told them to be a little more loose in the box and try to have fun,鈥� Grimm said. 鈥淚 think they made that adjustment, and it seemed to work out for them.鈥�

Even though Jack Lundquist鈥檚 day on the mound didn鈥檛 end like he hoped, Bemidji wouldn鈥檛 have been leading in the first place if it weren鈥檛 for his contributions at the plate.

He brought in all three of Bemidji鈥檚 runs in game one, including a bases-clearing, two-run single in the fifth inning. He had a great day on the mound as well, pitching 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs, only one of them earned, and one walk with seven strikeouts.

Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer

Although Ganske gave up the game-winning runs in extra innings in game one, he was given a second chance to close out game two. It was a chance he wouldn鈥檛 let get away from him, forcing Perham鈥檚 baserunning mistake and popup to pick up the save in the 6-5 win.

鈥淚 think we got better today,鈥� Grimm said. 鈥淭hey're a good team, they're a good baseball town. They've always got talented players. You can't really get caught up too much in the wins and losses. The big takeaway today for me was that I think we got better and learned a lot about ourselves and our identity as a team.鈥�

Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer

Perham 5, Bemidji 3 (F/8)

PER 000 000 32 鈥� 5-8-3

BEM 100 020 00 鈥� 3-4-4

WP: Schmidt (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K)

LP: Ganske (1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K)

Bemidji 6, Perham 5

PER 200 100 2 鈥� 5-9-2

BEM 100 140 X 鈥� 6-8-2

WP: Gessner (2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K)

LP: Blume (2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K)

S: Ganske (0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K)

Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer