The Alexandria Zimny Insurance American Legion Post 87 baseball team had its summer season come to an end on July 23 after back-to-back losses in the Sub-State 14 tournament.
Alexandria walked off Detroit Lakes in the July 21 tournament opener, but Bemidji won an 8-1 game the next day, and Perham followed with a 3-1 win on July 23 to end Post 87’s run.
"I am very proud of the way we performed this summer," head coach Jake Munsch said. "Obviously not the ending we wanted. Many guys shined that were given limited time during the high school season and that is what summer is all about. I am proud of the players for being open to play different positions and put themselves in a position to improve on different areas of the field."
Perham grabbed an early lead with three first-inning runs. That proved to be enough as Austin Aanenson threw a complete-game 4-hitter. Aanenson walked two and struck out four, with the only run he allowed in the fourth inning being unearned. JD Hennen led Alexandria with two hits, and Devan Swerman and Lake Hagen each added singles.
Hennen gave Post 87 a chance on the hill. He went all six innings and scattered four hits and two walks around nine strikeouts and two earned runs allowed.
ADVERTISEMENT
Moorhead and Bemidji met in the Sub-State 14 championship in a game that Moorhead won 5-4 to secure its spot at the state tournament.
Post 87 finished its summer with an 18-9-1 record.
"I am hoping that our players gained confidence over this summer and are looking forward to the high school season next year," Munsch said. "We will have a very experienced team next year with many seniors contributing. We also have a great group of juniors coming in to keep the competition level high. We are blessed to have great numbers in Alexandria when it comes to baseball. This is due to all of the people who volunteer their time to provide great opportunities for our athletes."
Hennen (98 at-bats, .439 AVG), Swerman (84 at-bats, .417 AVG), Reisdorf (84 at-bats, .417 AVG), Dayton Downing (36 at-bats, .389) and Brock Lerfald (59 at-bats, .356 AVG) led the way offensively for a group that hit .308 as a team this summer. Hennen had 25 RBIs in 28 games played, and Swerman drove in 20 in 27 games. Swerman also scored 20 runs himself, while Reisdorf had a team-leading 23 runs scored.
Hennen led the team in innings pitched with 34.2. He posted a 3.84 ERA with 51 strikeouts. Holthaus (30.1IP, 1.85 ERA, 38 SO), Jendro (30.1IP, 1.85 ERA, 18 SO) and Suchy (30.1IP, 2.77 ERA, 44 SO) all logged a lot of innings for this team over the summer too.
Alexandria returns talented players next year, but Swerman and Holthaus are a couple of the graduated seniors from this above group who will have to be replaced.
"We say goodbye to a tremendous group of senior ball players who displayed leadership skills that are difficult to find," Munsch said. "Future players have huge shoes to fill when it comes to these qualities these players had. We are extremely grateful that as coaches we were able to be part of such an amazing group of young men."
ALEXANDRIA 000 100 0 - 1 4 2
ADVERTISEMENT
PERHAM 300 000 X - 3 4 2
ALEXANDRIA PITCHING - JD Hennen - L, 6IP, 4H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 9SO
ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE - Reed Reisdorf - 0-3; Elijah Holthaus - 0-3; Hennen - 2-3; Devan Swerman - 1-3; Nate Hammerback - 0-3, 1 run; Caleb Runge - 0-3; Devin Cimbura - 0-2, BB; Grady Anderson - 0-2, BB; Lake Hagen - 1-3
ALEXANDRIA 000 100 0 - 1 4 3
BEMIDJI 110 033 X - 8 9 1
ALEXANDRIA PITCHING - Will Suchy - L, 4IP, 8H, 5R, 4ER, 5BB, 3SO; Parker Jendro - 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1SO; Swerman - 0.2IP, 1H, 3R, 1ER, 2BB, 1SO; Reisdorf - 0.1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0SO
ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE - Reisdorf - 0-3; Holthaus - 0-3; Hennen - 2-2, BB, 1 run; Swerman - 0-2, BB; Nate Hammerback - 1-3; Runge - 0-2, RBI; Cimbura - 1-2; Downing - 0-1; Anderson - 0-2; Hagen - 0-3
ADVERTISEMENT
