Hornets to open state against top seeded Parkers Prairie

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

For the first time since the 20th century the Frazee Hornet baseball team has advanced to the state baseball tournament. The Hornets, who last qualified for state in 1999, opened the Section 5A tournament as the fifth seed in the sub section, but has continued to improve throughout the season and is playing its best baseball when it matters the most—the playoffs.

The Hornets rallied behind two dominating pitching performances to win the Section 5A tournament with an 8-3 win over Ogilvie on Tuesday night and a 10-4 win over Sebeka to punch their ticket to state.

The Hornets are 15-10 overall and have won six straight games heading into the state tournament. Things won’t get any easier for the Hornets as they received the eighth seed and will take on top seeded Parkers Prairie in the opening round of state on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in St. Cloud. 

“I wouldn’t mind seeing the No. 1 right away. We play them quite a bit with our Legion schedule and I know they’re a talented team,” said head coach Andy Mekalson. 

Parkers Prairie defeated Frazee 13-1 on May 8, but Mekalson did not throw either of his top two pitchers leaving some mystery on the mound for a potential playoff rematch.

“I would love to get down there and just make some noise,” Mekalson said. “Give Frazee that baseball credit again and make a run.”

The winner of the game will take on either fourth seeded Legacy Christian Academy or fifth seeded Red Lake County on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in St. Cloud. 

The loser of the two games will drop to the consolation bracket where they will square off on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. at Bob Cross Field. The consolation finals will be held on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Bob Cross Field. 

On the other side of the bracket, second seeded New Ulm Cathedral will take on seventh seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and third seeded South Ridge will take on sixth seeded Hayfield in the opening round. 

The championship game is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Target Field.

Tuesday

Asher Blaine struck out 12 hitters and Andrew Aho picked up a pair of hits as the Frazee Hornets advanced to the Section 5A championship game on Tuesday night. After inclement weather postponed Monday’s game between Ogilvie and Frazee to Tuesday afternoon, the Hornets were able to jump out to an early lead and never look back as they pulled to just one win away from their first state tournament since 1999.

The fifth seeded Hornets took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Adam Vigen reached base safely on an error, before Noah Mekalson connected with an RBI double to bring him all the way around from first base to make the score 1-0. 

The Hornets made the score 2-0 in the top of the third inning when Mekalson grounded into a fielder’s and would later score on the throw.

Ogilvie kept some pressure on the Hornets in the bottom of the third inning when they picked up a pair of singles and a walk to lead off the inning and load up the bases. However, Blaine struck out the next batter and forced a pair of pop outs to get out of the jam and leave the score at 2-0. Frazee broke open the game in the top of the fourth inning when Aho led off the inning with a triple and scored on a squeeze play. They added another run on an error by the catcher and Adam Vigen hit an RBI single to make the score 5-0. 

Frazee jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the fifth inning when Aho scored on an error, before Ogilvie scored their only runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when three runs crossed the plate thanks to three singles and an error. 

Aho made the score 8-3 in the sixth inning when he connected with an RBI single to bring Blaine across the plate and end the game by that same score. 

Blaine was tremendous on the mound as he went seven innings, giving up six hits, three runs of which just one was earned, walking one and striking out 12. 

Aho led the team with two hits and one RBI, while Blake Sonnenberg finished with two RBIs in the win.

Frazee Hornets vs. Ogilvie

AB R H     BI

Adam Vigen 5 1 1 1

Asher Blaine 3 1 1 0

Noah Mekalson 3 1 1 1

Karson Krause 3 0 0 0

Ben Reierson 0 0 0 0

Conner Erickson 4 1 1 0

Andrew Aho 3 2 2 1

Mason Mickelson 2 1 0 1

Blake Sonnenberg 3 1 0 2

Dawson Lyman 2 0 0 0

Charlie Turnbull-S. 1 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Noah Mekalson

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Asher Blaine 7.0-6-3-1-1-12

Thursday

It’s not very often a team can commit seven errors and come away with a win, but it’s about equally as rare a fifth seed from a sub section can dominate their way through a section tournament and punch their way to the state tournament. Both things were true on Thursday night as the Hornets committed seven errors that led to three unearned runs, but 13 timely hits proved to be too much to overcome for the Sebeka Trojans as Frazee came away with a commanding 10-4 win in the section championship game. 

In keeping with the theme throughout the tournament, Frazee elected to be the visiting team in the tournament and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Adam Vigen led off the game with a double. He advanced to third base on a passed ball, before scoring on an error by the catcher. Sebeka loaded up the bases in the bottom of the first inning, but Karson Krause was able to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard and preserved the 1-0 lead. 

Frazee gave him a bit of breathing room in the top of the second inning when Andrew Aho and Mason Mekalson led off the inning with back-to-back singles and Chandler Ullrich loaded the bases with one out with a single to center field. A balk by the Sebeka pitcher forced in a run, before Asher Blaine hit a bases clearing triple with two outs to put the Hornets in control of the game by a score of 5-0. 

Sebeka once again kept the pressure on the Hornets as a pair of errors and a walk forced the bases loaded with one out, but a key 6-4-3 double play got the Hornets out of the jam and kept them in front by a score of 5-0. 

After Sebeka cut the Frazee lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Frazee put up five runs in the top of the fifth inning to put the game out of reach for good. Vigen scored on a passed ball and Mickelson scored on a hard ground ball to center field to bring another run across the plate. Blake Sonnenberg followed with a two-run single to make the score 10-1 in favor of the Hornets. 

Sebeka would add two more runs in the sixth inning and another in the seventh, but the damage was already done and Frazee’s tremendous run through the playoffs will continue with a trip to the state tournament by a score of 10-4. 

Krause picked up the win on the mound as he went six innings and gave up seven hits, three runs of which one was earned, struck out four hitters and walked just two. Noah Mekalson gave up one unearned run in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve the win.

Blaine led the way offensively as the senior went 3-4 with three RBIs in the win, while Vigen, Aho and Mickelson all picked up a pair of hits and scored two runs apiece. 

Frazee Hornets vs. Sebeka

AB R H     BI

Adam Vigen 4 2 2 0

Asher Blaine 4 1 3 3

Noah Mekalson 4 0 0 0

Karson Krause 4 1 1 1

Andrew Aho 3 2 2 0

John George 0 0 0 0

Mason Mickelson 3 2 2 1

Gavin Holt 1 0 0 0

Blake Sonnenberg 3 0 1 2

Conner Erickson 1 0 0 0

Chandler Ullrich 3 1 1 0

Charlie Turnbull-S. 1 0 1 0

Dawson Lyman 2 1 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Asher Blaine, Adam Vigen

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Karson Krause 6.0-7-3-1-2-4, Noah Mekalson 1.0-0-1-0-0-1