BASEBALL: Bemidji errors evolve into sour 4-2 loss in playoff opener

BEMIDJI -- The quest for a championship just got a whole lot trickier for the Bemidji High School baseball team.

A hopeful trip to the state tournament hit a major road bump at the BSU baseball field, where two seventh-inning errors cost the Lumberjacks a demoralizing 4-2 loss against Alexandria in Tuesday’s Section 8-3A Tournament opener.

“Everything is magnified in the playoffs, and every little play is going to matter a lot,” BHS head coach Mike Fogelson said. “Unfortunately, the three or four plays we had to make that really, really mattered, I don’t think we made enough of them.”

Tied 1-1 through six, Caleb Runge reached on a one-out error on a ground ball to Bemidji shortstop Brandon Lussier in the top of the seventh. But with the way pitcher Isaiah Biehn was dealing, it seemed like a harmless inconvenience more than a serious threat.

Yet Devin Cimbura and Nate Hammerback followed with singles, the latter of which scored the go-ahead runs. Cimbura was waved in from third base after Aaron Heger misplayed Hammerback’s ground ball in right field.

Elijah Holthaus singled in a third unearned run before inning’s end, backing Shay Endres with the run support he needed in a consummate pitchers’ duel opposite of Biehn.

“Their pitcher did a great job,” Fogelson said. “He got us to swing at a lot of pitches, had command of the strike zone. We popped up too many pitches. It was obvious to anybody watching, just too many lazy fly balls. … We put ourselves in a tough spot there, not scoring some runs early.”

The second-seeded Jacks (14-7) didn’t find a baserunner until the fourth inning, while the fifth-seeded Cardinals (13-8) manufactured the opening run on JD Hennen’s RBI single a half inning prior.

That score stuck until the sixth, when Biehn singled, stole second and scored on a clutch game-tying hit from Ben Corradi.

“I loved our response in the sixth,” Fogelson said. “Ben had a huge hit to get us tied back up. That was what we needed at that moment, but we just didn’t have enough of it. We needed a few more of those things to happen for us.”

BHS looked poised to script a new ending, but Alexandria was just as capable. The Cardinals’ three-run seventh inning was a deflating blow to the building energy in the home dugout.

Grant DeClusin even homered in the bottom of the seventh -- a solo shot that snuck over the left-field fence -- but the previous errors demoted it from a walk-off into a footnote.

The tying run got aboard with one out, as well, and it was almost poetic that the pitchers’ duel came down to Endres on the mound and Biehn at the plate. Endres had the final say, inducing a game-ending pop-up that got the Cardinals rushing out of the dugout in celebration.

“We just made mistakes. The mistakes get magnified in a tight game,” Fogelson said. “… It always feels good to be ahead, and I’m sure they felt a lot more confident having a lead. Obviously, we’re striving to get that lead, but we just couldn’t get it.”

Bemidji’s path to the championship series now has to go through the loser’s bracket. The Lumberjacks will host sixth-seeded Little Falls at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 3, with the winner advancing to next week’s action at St. John’s University.

Pitching is always a major hurdle for any team trying to make a run in the elimination bracket, but Fogelson is confident in his depth. Now in a do-or-die position, it’s just a matter of the team’s resiliency.

“Our pitching is extremely deep. We have a ton of talent on this team,” Fogelson said. “We’re just going to see how deep we’re going to dig and how hard we’re going to work at it. We’ve got the talent to rip through that bracket. If we’ll get out here and do it, it starts on Thursday.”

Alexandria 4, Bemidji 2

ALX 000 100 3 -- 4-8-0

BHS 000 001 1 -- 2-5-2

WP: Endres (CG, 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K)

LP: I. Biehn (CG, 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K)

1/6: Bemidji senior Josh Nyberg (15) makes a catch in a Section 8-3A Tournament game against Alexandria on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at the BSU baseball field. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)

2/6: Bemidji senior Isaiah Biehn (6) scores in a Section 8-3A Tournament game against Alexandria on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at the BSU baseball field. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)

3/6: Lumberjack fans celebrate after senior Grant DeClusin (9) hit a home run against Alexandria in a Section 8-3A Tournament game on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at the BSU baseball field. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)

4/6: Bemidji’s JD Kondos, left, celebrates with Isaiah Biehn (6) after Biehn scored in a Section 8-3A Tournament game against Alexandria on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at the BSU baseball field. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)

5/6: The Lumberjacks celebrate with senior Grant DeClusin (9) after he hit a home run against Alexandria in a Section 8-3A Tournament game on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at the BSU baseball field. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)

6/6: Bemidji senior Grant DeClusin (9) hits a home run against Alexandria in a Section 8-3A Tournament game on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at the BSU baseball field. (Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer)