With a long throw by shortstop Winsten Nienhaus to first baseman Owen Weiss at Lions Memorial Park on Sunday, Sleepy Eye secured a 7-4 win over Glenwood-Lowry and celebrated a Division 2 American Legion State Baseball title for the second year in a row.

After last year’s state tournament sent Sleepy Eye trekking six-plus hours north to Roseau, this year’s tournament afforded Sleepy Eye fans a more comfortable trip and better opportunity to celebrate in person.

Arian Saenz had a big championship performance for Sleepy Eye, going 3 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI to finish as the State Tournament MVP.

“It means a lot, I’m truly grateful,” Saenz said. “I don’t deserve this. Thank God, by his grace I was able to play this game and then just being able to play baseball with this group of guys for the last four, five years, you couldn’t ask for anything better than that. I’m so grateful.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye Post 7’s Mark Anderson (14) tries to tag out Glenwood-Lowry’s Alex Panitzke (10) at second during the Division 2 American Legion State Baseball Tournament Championship on Sunday at Lions Memorial Park in Bird Island.

Saenz’s first double of the game came in the third inning that got Post 7 on the board. After a leadoff walk to Mark Anderson and a sac bunt from Austin Uecker moved Anderson to second, Talan Helget singled to put Anderson on third. That brought Saenz to the plate, who got a hold of a fastball and sent it hopping over the fence in left-center for a ground-rule double.

Helget ended up getting tagged out trying to score on a wild pitch, but Cody Schultz hit a towering home run over the fence in left field to give Sleepy Eye a 3-0 lead.

Sleepy Eye starting right-hander Marcus Martinez had a comfortable first three innings before running into some trouble in the fourth. He hit the first two batters he saw that inning before an RBI single from Connor Erickson made it 3-1. A wild pitch scored PJ Johnson from third.

Martinez was relieved in the fifth by Isaac Lendt after allowing a single, a walk and another ground-ball single to load the bases.

Martinez ended up finishing four innings by allowing four earned runs on four hits, four walks and two hit batsmen. He struck out seven.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye Post 7’s Talan Helget hustles to third during the Division 2 American Legion State Baseball Tournament Championship against Glenwood-Lowry on Sunday at Lions Memorial Park in Bird Island.

Erickson got another RBI single off Lendt before a bunt brought in another run to give Glenwood-Lowry a 4-3 lead. Lendt got three outs in a row after that, however, to escape any more damage.

Lendt got the win in three innings of work, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out two.

“I’ve been waiting all weekend, kind of dreaming of this moment,” Lendt said. “The team out here, No. 1 in state, No. 1 defense in state, and I didn’t hit today, but as you saw, the boys did their work up at the plate. I came in … they gave me three runs to work with, so I just had to go out there and throw strikes, and like I said, best defense, they work behind me. Winsten Nienhaus made a great play on that last out, stuff like that, it’s just fun. Fun to watch, fun to be a part of.”

Alex Panitzke got the mound start for Glenwood-Lowry and went three innings for a no decision, allowing five hits and three walks for three earned runs while striking out two. Marc Gruber entered in the fourth and took the loss with two innings of work, allowing four hits and two walks for three earned runs.

After Saenz led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, back-to-back flyouts put the pressure on Jon Petermann. Petermann shrugged that pressure off with a single to left-center to bring in Saenz and tie the game at 4-all.

Petermann ended up going 3 for 3 with a walk.

Back-to-back walks to Nienhaus and Weiss were followed with a two-run single to center field by Mark Anderson that put Post 7 ahead 6-4. Caden Evers singled to left to score Helget in the sixth for an insurance run.

In the top of the seventh, Lendt forced an Anderson-to-Weiss groundout, a pop out to Nienhaus and the final Nienhaus-to-Weiss groundout that sent the team into a frenzy.

“Pure excitement, just like last year, pure excitement,” Weiss said on his thoughts after securing the final putout of the game. “I love these guys, I love this team, it’s just a great group. Just an awesome experience.”

Sleepy Eye head coach Zach Haala said despite losing a 3-0 lead, he knew both teams were going to get hits and he knew that his players had the ability to respond.

“I just know our guys have got fight in them,” Haala said. “They always have that and I know they always got each other’s backs. … That’s kind of been our story all season long. Today, obviously Marcus came out and gave us a good chance, we knew we were going to hit the ball and we knew they were going to put the ball in play. They’re a very good team, so it’s, ‘How are we going to stay in it and compete?'”

Sunday’s big championship win didn’t come without the headache of dealing with the state semifinals game against Fosston being suspended Saturday night in the top of the sixth at 0-0 due to inclement weather. The semifinals continued Sunday morning, but it was almost a totally new ballgame as both teams had to bring in a new pitcher to start.

“When last night got postponed, we were frustrated right away,” Haala said. “Guys wanted to play, guys wanted to finish that game. But it gave us a chance to go back to the hotel, get some rest, reset. Mentally, we wanted a complete, fresh start today.

“Winsten came out and with two outs, they got after him a little bit, things happen, but how were we going to respond? That’s the thing that’s been the case all year. If teams get a lead on us or something happens to us, it’s how are we going to respond? We came through, we did that all season long and it proves why we deserve to be here.”

Mark Anderson pitched five innings of three-hit, two-walk ball for Post 7 Saturday night, striking out six. Nienhaus finished the semifinals off Sunday, allowing six hits for two earned runs while fanning one.

Nienhaus allowed four two-out hits in a tough sixth inning that allowed Fosston to jump in front 2-0. He made up for that at the plate in the bottom of the inning with a two-out single, however, bringing home Schultz from second and putting Sleepy Eye on the board. Then came the biggest hit of the semifinals for Sleepy Eye, a two-RBI double off the bat of Weiss that put Sleepy Eye up 3-2.

Weiss, one of the longer-tenured legion players for Sleepy Eye and in his final season with the team, said he thought of ways he could help lead the team at state this year and was happy his double was one way to do that.

“I was thinking to myself all weekend that I’ve got to be the dad of the team in charge of these kids,” Weiss said. “I did their laundry for them, and I had to clean up out here for them, but I was glad to do that for them. It felt great off the bat, it was stressful up there, but it was well worth it.”

Mark Anderson singled in another run that inning for a 4-2 Sleepy Eye lead. Fosston got a run back with two outs, but a flyout to Petermann in center sent Sleepy Eye to the title game, where it was able to recreate some of that magic from last year’s state title win over Eden Valley-Watkins.

“It was exciting and I mean all those boys out there, they deserve it,” Saenz said. “We work so hard for that and I was just so happy, I was so excited once they got that last out.”

In addition the being the state tourney’s MVP, Saenz, along with Schultz, Helget and Brandon Schmitz each made the All-State Tournament Team.