Trojan baseball season ends at Section 6A Tournament

The Trojan baseball team opened the Section 6A Tournament as the #5 seed in the South Sub-Section and traveled to #4 seeded Benson on Tuesday, May 27.

Light rain persisted throughout much of the game, but the Trojans were able to come out with a 5-4 win over the Braves.

Benson would take the early lead scoring a single run in the bottom of the first inning.

In the top of the third inning, the Trojans came back with four runs. Tristen Jensen led off with a walk. With one out, Jakobi Kuefler walked and Braxton Brandriet was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Isaac Brown singled to score both Jensen and Kuefler, with Brandriet reaching third base. Connor Danielson hit a grounder to shortstop who threw home to try and get Brandriet, who would score after a throwing error. Kirby Olson then singled to score Brown and give the Trojans a 4-1 lead.

The Trojans would add a run in the top of the fifth inning when Kuefler walked with one out. Kuefler would steal second base and score on a double by Brown to stretch the Trojan lead to 5-1. The Braves would add a run in the bottom half of the inning to cut the Trojan lead to 5-2.

The score remained 5-2 until the bottom of the seventh inning when things got interesting. With the bases loaded and one out, Benson scored a run on an error and then added another run on sacrifice fly to make the score 5-4. With the bases loaded and two out, Isaac Brown struck out the Brave batter for the final out and a Trojan win.

Trojan senior Connor Danielson started pitching and went five innings allowing two runs, three hits, walked seven and struck out four. Senior Isaac Brown pitched the final two innings allowing one earned run, three hits, walked three and struck out two.

Brown led the Trojan hitters with two hits including a double and drove in three runs. Danielson, Olson and Avier Hughes each had singles for the Trojans.

Upsala-Swanville Game

The Trojans traveled to Morris on Thursday, May 29 for the Section 6A South Sub-Section Tournament where they played the #1 seed Upsala-Swanville Patriots. The game was played on Chizek Field in Morris as the tournament continued with double elimination. In a much closer game than the score indicated, the Trojans lost the game, 9-1.

The Trojans scored first in the third inning when Jakobi Kuefler led off with a walk and stole second base. Braxton Brandriet singled to advance Kuefler to third base. Brandriet would steal second to put runners on second and third  base. Isaac Brown then singled to score Kuefler, with Brandriet called out trying to score on a close play at home plate. That gave the Trojans a 1-0 lead.

Upsala-Swanville came back with two runs in the bottom of the second inning and two more in the fourth inning to lead 4-1.

The Trojans had an opportunity to score in the fifth inning with runners in scoring position, but could not come up with the big hit.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Patriots would score five runs, with two bloop singles being the big hits in the inning to pull away for the win.

Isaac Brown started pitching for the Trojans and went five and one-third innings allowing four runs, six hits, walked three and struck out three. Kirby Olson pitched the final one and two-thirds innings allowing two earned runs, three hits and walked two.

Brown had two hits and the only run batted in for the Trojans. Braxton Brandriet, Tristen Jensen and Dillon Anderson each had singles in the game.

“We played well in this game against a very good Patriot team,” said Coach Mike Swenson. “I was proud of our effort as the team gained some valuable experience for the future in this game.”

Border West Game

Following the Upsala-Swanville game, the Trojans played #3 seeded Border West in an elimination game and lost by the score of 11-1 in five innings. Border West had lost just prior to this game to Belgrade-Brooten-Elsrosa.

The Trojans scored first again in this game in the top of the first inning. Trojan lead-off hitter Jakobi Kuefler walked and stole second base. With one out, Isaac Brown laced a double to score Kuefler and give the Trojans a 1-0 lead.

Border West took control of the game from there, scoring two runs in the first inning, two runs in the third inning, one run in the fourth inning and six runs in the fifth inning to earn the win.

Freshman Connor Ohm started this game and went two and one-third innings allowing four runs, five hits, walked three and struck out three. Freshman Tristen Jensen pitched two innings allowing three hits and two runs. Ashton Sletten pitched one-third of an inning for the Trojans.

Isaac Brown had a double and run batted in for the Trojans. Kirby Olson, Josh Haugen and Tristen Jensen each had a single in the game.

“These two games did not go the way we had hoped, but the kids gave a good effort and gained some valuable playoff experience on the day,” said Swenson. “They were excited to play and see some very good teams in action which should help in the future for the program.”

Three seniors played their final games for the Trojans. Dillon Anderson, Isaac Brown and Connor Danielson all had good years for the Trojans.

“These three young men were terrific leaders for this team,” said Swenson. “I was very proud of how they conducted themselves, not only as leaders on the team, but also in society. They will be doing good things in the future.”

The Trojans will return an excellent group of ball players for next year.

“We have some really good baseball players returning next year which should make for a good season,” Swenson added. “Most will be playing baseball throughout the summer and if the kids can commit to getting in the weight room this summer, Trojan baseball should be exciting for many years to come.”