Prep report: Rock Ridge batters bounce back

VIRGINIA — Rock Ridge’s Griffin Dosan hit a double all three times he came to the plate and collected three RBIs in a five-inning, 16-0 win over Deer River Wednesday.

Not to be outdone, the Wolverines' Dylan Hedley was 4-for-4 with seven RBIs in the win as the Wolverines collected 11 hits against the Warriors, just a day after getting shut out 5-0 by Pequot Lakes.

“Yesterday they were swinging at balls and taking strikes — it was contagious,” Rock Ridge coach Jamie Lindseth said. “The whole lineup, we were not having good at bats. I don’t think we were seeing the ball really well, we were pressing a little bit.”

The Wolverines left 13 batters on base and runners were in scoring position in every inning, according to Lindseth. Pequot Lakes pitcher Grant Loge has been throwing well recently. Loge held hot-hitting Esko, the No. 2 AA team in Minnesota, to just two hits last week. Loge allowed six hits over six and a third innings and struck out seven in the win over Rock Ridge Tuesday.

“I was in a little bit of a slump, so I just shortened everything up,” Dosan said. “I changed my approach at the plate a little bit, I just kept it simple, quit thinking and just saw the ball and hit the ball. That’s pretty much it. My teammates were really supportive today, we had a lot of energy and we were all hitting the ball. It kind of rubbed off on me.”

Thursday, the Wolverines will travel to Pine City for the regular season finale, a game that will have seeding implications in the Section 7AA tournament that begins next week. The Wolverines’ section is among the toughest in Minnesota with Esko and eighth-ranked Duluth Marshall both looking for spots in the state tournament.

“Top to bottom, they all had really productive at-bats today, which was really nice to see — nice to see some smile and some things working,” Lindseth said. “Yesterday, we were hitting everything at people, which is frustrating, but you can’t control that. You’ve just got to keep swinging, you’ve got to have a plan and today they really did. I hope this carries into to tomorrow and into next week and the playoffs.”

Pitcher Jaden Lang threw five innings of no-hit baseball, striking out seven and walking two in the win for Rock Ridge.

Rock Ridge will play at Pine City at 1 p.m. Thursday.

The Hilltoppers grabbed a fourth consecutive victory on a frigid afternoon on the Iron Range, chipping out a lead with single runs in three of the first four innings.

The Hilltoppers finished off the game by scoring three times in the fifth inning, all of them the result of Bluejackets errors.

Carter Boos, Owen Marsolek, Tanner Carlson had two hits apiece.

Marsolek started and threw six shutout innings on two hits with 14 strikeouts and two walks. The Bluejackets put two unearned runs across in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Hawks won on the road in the first two meetings between the teams.

This one, played down the hill at East, was decided by Hermantown’s three-run fourth. Carter Pietrusa’s ground ball was mishandled, leading to the first run on the inning. Charlie Marchand singled in another run before Pietrusa came in on a double steal of home.

Hermantown earned its win despite achieving only three hits, one of them a double by Jimmy Bartsch.

The Greyhounds rallied with single runs in the fourth and sixth innings, then made it a one-run game on Lukas Niska’s RBI double. Niska advanced to third as the tying run, but was stranded when Cruz Runyan got a fly out to end the game.

Runyan earned the complete-game victory, allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits. He struck out six and walked one.

Dylan Cole had a pair of hits for East, as Charlie Sutherland took the loss after allowing four runs (two earned) on three hits in six innings. He struck out eight and walked four.

Three Cloquet hurlers combined on a five-inning no-hitter in Moose Lake.

The Lumberjacks scored 10 times in the third inning to break things wide open, with Kollin Bonneville finishing 3-for-3 with two RBIs.

Natalie Vitek struck out 10 Thunderhawks as Hermantown took care of business in its Section 7AAA playoff opener.

The third-seeded Hawks got seven strong innings from their pitcher, as Vitek allowed two runs on three hits and walked three.

Offensively, Lindsey Ewer drove in three runs and Mikayla Sweeney had a pair of hits.

For Rapids, Lindsay Tulla had a pair of hits.

Hermantown, the third seed, will face North Branch, which no-hit Duluth Denfeld in a 10-0 win, on Saturday in a winner’s bracket game at Braun Park in Cloquet.

The Lumberjacks grabbed a road win and sent Hibbing into the elimination bracket, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning.

Blythe Proulx’s liner was mishandled, driving in Allie Jones for the go-ahead run before Morgan Olesiak’s RBI single scored Araya Kiminski.

Jones worked around a one-out single to finish off the win, and allowed one Hibbing run on three hits.

Cloquet will meet top-seeded Chisago Lakes, which had a bye, in one winner’s bracket game on Saturday at noon in Cloquet.

Aune Boben had a single and took the loss for Hibbing, allowing three runs, all unearned, on five hits in a complete game.

Northwestern junior Bryce Priem nabbed an individual qualifying spot for the Division 2 sectional boys golf meet by virtue of his performance in regional play on Wednesday at Turtleback in Rice Lake.

Priem shot an 85 and tied for seventh in the individual ranks.

The Northwestern team was eighth in a 10-school field with a team total of 372. Junior Lawson Burkhart was Northwestern's second-best finisher with an 88, good for a tie for 15th.

The sectional meet is scheduled for Lake Wissota Golf Club in Chippewa Falls on Tuesday, May 30.

In Division 1 at Wild Ridge in Eau Claire, Superior finished eighth, with Leo Drougas, a freshman, shooting 83 to lead the team and finish tied for 24th among individuals.

Rock Ridge 16, Deer River 0