BEMIDJI – A small group of Bemidji High School baseball players crept out of the dugout, stalking head coach Mike Fogelson as he began a postgame interview with Chaz Mootz of Lakeland News.
Their goal was to put the celebratory cheese-patterned bucket hat on his head before the rolling camera was turned off. The hat traditionally goes to a standout performer after a BHS win, but Monday afternoon had a history-making feel to it for the longtime skipper.
The Lumberjacks’ 8-5 victory over Elk River was the 255th of Fogelson’s 18-year coaching stint with the program, surpassing Des Sagedahl for the most in school history. His unexpected journey to Bemidji is rooted in his faith and passion for developing youth athletes.
“I was in college 20 years ago, and I was planning on having a collegiate (baseball) career,” Fogelson said. “Too many injuries. God had a different plan for me. Troy Hendricks convinced me to coach football. Next thing you know, I’m coaching baseball. Then I became the head baseball coach, and I never saw this coming in my life. That’s the great thing about how God works.”
Fogelson sported the hat and an ear-to-ear smile as he made his way through the postgame barrage of questions. It was hard for him to stay in the moment as his mind reminisced about the people that made this milestone achievable.
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“The best part about all of this for me is the relationships I’ve gotten to have,” Fogelson said. “All of my coaches and the guys I coach with are my best friends. I love the kids I get to coach. … I feel honored that I’ve gotten to do it this long. We’ve got some amazing coaches in this town. To share all of this with those people and this community is pretty cool.”
The win couldn’t have come at a better time, or maybe against a better Section 8-4A team. Elk River (12-6) beat the Jacks 6-5 in eight innings a week earlier and is vying for the top seed in the section playoffs after Memorial Day weekend.
Monday was a battle between two of the top pitchers in the section. Sam Stockman – an Elk River junior and a University of Utah Division I baseball commit – got the ball for the Elks. The Lumberjacks turned to St. Cloud State commit Dan Clusiau.
“Dan is one of the best pitchers I’ve seen on a baseball field,” BHS senior Ty Lundeen said. “You put him up against a D-I guy, and he’s going to win that battle 10 out of 10 times, in my opinion. It’s fun to watch him, and I love to see him out there.”
Lundeen’s notion was correct, at least for Monday. Clusiau tossed 5 2/3 innings, limiting Elk River to four earned runs on nine hits. He struck out nine batters on his way to the win.
Conversely, the Jacks (13-5) tagged Stockman for six earned runs on 10 hits. Lundeen got things started for BHS in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI single, then Ryan Loewe added another to make it 3-1.
After Hunter Brodina’s safety squeeze bunt in the bottom of the fourth inning gave Bemidji a 4-1 lead, the Elks started to show some life offensively. The Jacks looked like they got out of the top of the fifth inning on a rundown between third and home, but Clusiau was called for interference. The ruling was that he impeded the base runner’s path to home.
Despite Elk River taking a controversial 4-2 lead, Fogelson showed his key to longevity as a coach.
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“Dan was definitely in the baseline, and he was trying to make a play,” Fogelson said. “The conversation I had with the ump was about if Dan impeded the runner. Obviously, I had my thoughts, and (the umpire) had his. The ump gets to be right, and we have to support that call and keep our composure.”
The Lumberjacks answered with two more runs in the bottom of the inning on RBI singles from Peyton Neadeau and Landon Hanson. Elk River plated three runs in the top of the sixth inning with a pair of two-out doubles, knocking Clusiau off the mound. It set the stage for Neadeau’s four-out save.
Lundeen capped a 2 for 4 day at the plate with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“What I love about what we saw today was we fought really hard, and we finished the game,” Fogelson said. “We haven’t been able to finish some of these games this year late, but Ty Lundeen hit that home run, and it was a nail. Those things will matter more than the score will tell you. We were up two, but that was a big run. That’s the thing we’ve been looking for. I wouldn’t call it a knockout punch, but it was an exclamation point.”
For Lundeen, the exclamation point was seeing his head coach celebrated for his storied career.
“He’s everything for us,” Lundeen said of Fogelson. “He fires us up, and he can calm it down to let us do our thing when he has to. He knows what he’s doing out there. You love playing for a guy like that, and I’m really going to miss him next year.”
BHS will honor its seniors at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, against St. Cloud at the BSU baseball field.
Bemidji 8, Elk River 5
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ER 100 013 0 – 5-9-4
BHS 300 131 X – 8-11-1
WP: Clusiau (5.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 K)
LP: Stockman (5 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K)
S: Neadeau (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K)
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