“All I’m looking for is to put the ball into play and move the runners around,” Bendix said. “Nothing much more than that. Just hit the ball hard and put it in play.”

That ball was unable to be cleanly fielded by the GFW shortstop, opening the path for Jensen Gerdts to go home after being waved from second by MVL assistant head coach Jeff Schoenherr, sliding around the tag to get the 2-1 walk-off win.

“Honestly, I didn’t even really see [the ball],” Gerdts said. “I just saw it go past me and I knew I had to get to third. Then I saw Mr. Schoenherr waving me past, and I trust him to do what’s right. So I ran and slid in safe.”

It was Gerdts’ second walk-off moment for MVL, with his other coming last season, also against GFW, with a bases-loaded walk.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Leyton Uecker-Hamre is waved home during a nonconference baseball game against Minnesota Valley Lutheran Tuesday at Johnson Park.

MVL head coach Jim Buboltz said the team showed a lot of determination in the win.

“I think the big thing was grit,” he said. “We didn’t get down when we had opportunities early that didn’t happen, we stuck with it and the opportunity came through.”

Bendix added that the team came together defensively after surrendering a run in the first inning, shutting down the GFW offense.

“It’s our heads,” he said. “We gave up a run in the first inning, which, especially with Josh [Vander Plas] on the mound, we don’t really give up runs like that a ton, and it kind of shocked us there. But we battled back and gave up no more for the rest of the game and had a lot of great catches, outfield, infield, everything was good.”

One such defensive play came from Gerdts, who caught a fly ball in the third inning, then rifled the ball to third base to throw out the runner tagging up from second and prevent another tag-up run from third from scoring.

“I wasn’t thinking of throwing him out, I was thinking of getting it to the cutoff guy,” Gerdts said. “But he didn’t cut it off, and I’m just glad Brennan was at third and able to cover up.”

GFW head coach Kelly Krzmarzick, said that his team still put together a strong defensive effort, something that has started become a habit for the team that beat Sibley East 5-2 on Monday.

“Josh Vander Plas is a top pitcher, he’s their one,” Krzmarzick said. “Going into the playoffs, we’re only going to face some of these number ones. This was good for us to be able to compete against a quality pitcher and somebody that throws hard. I’m very pleased with where we’re at right now.

“Going back a couple different games, playing Springfield to a 3-2 game, beating [Sleepy Eye] St. Mary’s, beating Sibley East, right now defensively we’re making the routine plays, but then on top of that we’re making a few outstanding plays. No errors last night, I think we had two today, we’ve been able to limit the damage. But also we’re coming to compete. We’re 5-12 right now, but we’re going to make every game as difficult for the opponent as we can.”

Vander Plas earned the win for MVL, striking out nine and allowing one run on four hits in a complete game. At the plate, Blake Sexton was 2 for 3, while Gerdts and Aiden Eckberg each had a hit and a run scored.

Kaden Rieke took the loss for GFW, striking out six while allowing two runs on six hits in seven innings. At the plate, Leyton Uecker-Hamre had a hit and a run scored, while Reike had a hit and an RBI.

Uecker-Hamre got GFW going in the first inning, singling and advancing to second before scoring on a single from Rieke. MVL had to wait until the third inning to respond, with Eckberg singling and advancing to second on an error put into play by Peterson before taking both third and home on wild pitches.

The teams went back and forth in scorless innings, playing good defense and playing behind the strong pitching of Rieke and Vander Plas. However, in the bottom of the seventh, Gerdts singled to lead off the inning, then was sent to second on a sacrifice bunt by Josh Carlovsky. Finally, Bendix made the solid contact that sent Gerdts home and ended the game.

MVL (9-7) hosts a doubleheader against Le Sueur-Henderson on Thursday, while GFW (5-12) hosts a doubleheader against Lester Prairie on Thursday.