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Hanska hits back, rallies by Atwater

By Travis Rosenau 5 min read

JORDAN - It wasn't a matter of if the Hanska Lakers would find an offensive rhythm, it was a matter of when.

That when came in the fifth inning as Hanska erased a 3-0 deficit with a five-run rally. Chris Knowles' 13th homer of the season gave the Lakers two more runs in the seventh as they held off the Atwater Chuckers 7-3 in the second round of the Class C Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament at the Mini Met.

Chris Knowles finished 2 for 4 with his two-run homer in the seventh and three RBIs. Kevin Larson was 1 for 3 with two RBIs also for Hanska, while Jake Finstad was 1 for 3 and Sam Knowles was 1 for 4 with two RBIs.

"Throughout the game, no matter what the score is, we're always just trying to stay pretty level, not getting too high, not getting too low," Chris Knowles said. "This team just does a really good job. We had a couple games late in the season where we've had to come from behind to win, so we feel we've been in all of those situations before. We're comfortable coming from behind because we know we've got the guys that can hit and start a rally."

Aaron Portner got the win for Hanska in 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and four walks for three runs while striking out five. Isaac Schmitt, a Milroy Yankees draftee, pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief for the Lakers, allowing three hits and two walks for no runs while striking out three.

The win moves Hanska on to a 7:30 p.m. quarterfinals game Friday in Jordan against the Windom Pirates, who shut out the Litchfield Blues 5-0 last Friday night.

Brody Straumann was 3 for 5 with a double to lead Atwater, while Jack Peterson was 2 for 5, David Kingery was 1 for 4 with two RBIs and Teagan Kavanagh was 1 for 4 with an RBI.

Josh Kingery took the loss in seven innings, allowing five hits and four walks for seven runs, six earned, while striking out six. Peterson pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning in relief, striking out one.

While getting a run or two back at a time is a solid approach when trailing 3-0, the Lakers decided to open the flood gates in the bottom of the fifth instead. After a flyout by Brady Mosenden began the Lakers' half of the inning, Colin Anderson, Sawyer Olson and Brock Wellmann all drew walks off Josh Kingery to the load the bases for leadoff hitter Sam Knowles.

Sam Knowles connected with a pitch and sent it into center to score Anderson and pinch runner Eric Portner, who ran for Sawyer Olson, putting the Lakers on the board on what was just their second hit of the game at that point. Josh Kingery forced Jake Finstad to pop out for the second out, but Chris Knowles singled into left to keep the Lakers alive and score Wellmann. An error in left after the hit allowed Chris Knowles to take second and Sam Knowles to take third.

"[Josh Kingery] was attacking us away pretty much all the way through the lineup," Chris Knowles said. "He did a really good job of locating pitches, not missing middle. It was really just wear him down until he starts missing middle and then change your approach to just kind of middle-away, and we did a really good job just fighting off pitches until we got our pitch."

Kevin Larson got his pitch to hit next as he singled in the Knowles bros for a 5-3 Hanska lead.

Aaron Portner forced a lineout to center field to begin the sixth, but the Chuckers got back on base when David Kingery walked and Jonathan Broman doubled to move him to third. An intentional walk to Josh Kingery, who was hit by pitch twice and walked three times, two times intentionally, ended Aaron Portner's day on the mound as Schmitt took over.

The Milroy righty didn't need long to get out of the jam as his first pitch was grounded to Larson at shortstop. Larson then flipped the ball to Finstad, who stepped on second and fired a throw to first baseman Tanner Olson for an inning-ending double play.

"It's obviously huge with the bases loaded," Schmitt said. "Nobody wants to come in with the bases loaded, but throw strikes and good stuff will happen. Huge for a confidence boost."

In the bottom of the seventh, Finstad was hit by a pitch with two outs to bring up Chris Knowles, who crushed the first pitch he saw and sent it over the fence in left-center field for a two-run homer and 7-3 Hanska lead.

With the home run, Chris Knowles got to proudly hold up the Hanska home run rock, something the team started bringing into games to keep things loose in July.

"I found a rock and wrote HR on it, home run rock, and since right around the Fourth of July, we've just been throwing that out there," he said. "Whoever hits a home run, they carry it into the dugout. Just another thing to keep us loose in the dugout."

After Chris Knowles added those insurance runs in the seventh, Schmitt walked Josh Kingery in the eighth and gave up a two-out single to Straumann in the ninth before getting the final out of the game on a strikeout.

"It's a lot of fun," Schmitt said being able to play with Hanska. "It's a good group and I'm even more confident to know they drafted me first. It's awesome."

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