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Indians come up short in title game

MINNEAPOLIS — Sleepy Eye wasn’t supposed to be playing for the Class A State Baseball Championship on Saturday. The Indians weren’t even supposed to be going to state.

But they kept playing high-level baseball all season long and had a surge in the postseason, a postseason that had them as the seventh seed in Section 2A. Unfortunately for the Indians (18-6), the phenomenal season ended with a second-place trophy after an 8-0 loss at the hands of Heritage Christian Academy on Saturday at Target Field.

The Indians got the No. 2 seed in the state tournament, but still had the odds stacked against them. They responded to the pressure with excellent back-to-back starts on the mound Thursday and Friday from Avery Stevens and Jacob Berg.

Stevens pitched a no-hitter on Thursday against Hinckley-Finlayson with 15 strikeouts, and Berg pitched a two-hitter with 14 strikeouts against South Ridge on Friday.

That quality pitching, though, hasn’t just been a recent development.

“Avery and Jake have thrown that way all year,” Sleepy Eye head coach Aaron Nesvold said. “Jacob, coming into the tournament and I think finishing the season gave up five runs in 32 innings. That’s pretty amazing. Avery, over 100 strikeouts. We’re going to miss his arm next year, but Jacob’s going to be our horse next year and he’s going to get better, he’s going to make that next step, and he’s going to be one to watch next year.”

With those great consecutive starts, Sleepy Eye’s Kyle Domeier had big shoes to fill against the top-seeded Eagles (23-3) on Saturday. He picked up the loss in three innings, surrendering four earned runs on nine hits and three walks. He struck out one.

Zach Haala pitched three innings in relief of Domeier, giving up three earned runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out two.

The Indians loaded the bases in the first inning and got hits in each of the first four innings. They failed to capitalize, though, against a tough Eagles team.

The Eagles’ starting pitcher, Seth Halvorsen, got the complete-game win on Saturday with 16 strikeouts and just five hits allowed. He walked two.

He also blasted two home runs to left field. With the two homers, he became the fifth player in Minnesota State High School League Tournament history with two homers in a single game.

Halvorsen, a senior, was drafted a little over a week ago by the Minnesota Twins in the 30th round of the 2018 MLB Draft and is also a University of Missouri commit. After a 3-for-3, four-RBI day on Saturday, it may not be the last time he ends up impressing fans at Target Field.

Halvorsen got the Eagles on the board right away on a leadoff homer in the first. His second home run, a three-run blast, came in the fifth inning to put the Eagles up 8-0.

Carter Brinkman led the Indians with a 2-for-3 day at the plate, while Stevens and Luke Mielke each had a base hit. Berg added a double down the line in left in the second inning.

Brinkman said that being seeded low in sections gave the team a drive to show everyone what they were capable of.

“It kind of gave us an edge,” Brinkman said. “It took a lot of pressure of us, which we can play with pressure, but it was a lot easier for us to play without [it] and put pressure on other teams. That way we can play ball together like we’ve been doing since we were real young.”

Brinkman, one of eight Sleepy Eye seniors, also said that he was honored to take part of the championship game at Target Field, despite the outcome.

“It was a big honor to play on Target Field,” Brinkman said. “Our goal at the beginning of the season and growing up has been to get to this field, get to the championship game and see what happens. We used some of our best pitchers in the beginning of the tournament, but we just threw the best we could and played the best we could today.”

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