Huskies drop playoff opener, 4-1

With two aces on the mound, it came down the team which made more plays. That team was No. 4 seed Maple Lake, which scored the final four runs of the Region 8B playoff game to beat top-seeded Hutchinson, 4-1.

The big blow came in the top of the eighth inning with runners on first and third with one out. Maple Lake catcher Cody Decker took the count full before jacking a fastball over the left-field fence for the 4-1 lead.

After an infield single by Nate Johnson to begin the inning, a blown call on a fielder's choice to first base put runners on first and second base with no outs. After a near double play, in which Keith Jerpseth reached first base, Decker cleared the bases after fouling off the first 3-2 fastball.

Hutchinson, which had just three hits off Lakers starter Chad Raiche, had runners in scoring position in the second, third, fifth, eighth and ninth innings, but managed just a solo run in the fifth inning.

Jordan Schwarze began the inning with a walk and moved to second base on a Andrew Dammann sacrifice bunt. After a ground out to first base, Schwarze scored on a wild pitch to the backstop.

Maple Lake knotted the score at one the next inning as Fuller reached base on an error by Luke Klitzke. Four pitches later, Jerpseth roped an offspeed pitch that right fielder Jarrod Zelm nearly made a diving catch on. The ball rolled to the wall and allowed Fuller to score.

Trick, who gave up nine hits and two earned runs in 7 1/3 innings, pitched out of his third jam of the game to hold the score at 1-1. After a pop out, Jerpseth was caught too far off base on a ground ball to Tim Thode at third base. A fly out to the outfield ended the threat.

Hutchinson had just three hits for the game - a third-inning double from Brooks Albrecht, a second-inning single from Justin Juergensen and a seventh-inning Jarrod Zelm single. Raiche did walk eight Huskie batters, but also struck out eight batters.

Evan Kohli threw the final 1 2/3 innings, striking out three of the five batters faced.

With the win, Maple Lake and No. 2 seed St. Michael, which beat Delano 2-1 Tuesday, will play in a state qualifier game at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Hutchinson and Delano will play in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Saturday in Delano.

The winner of that game will play Friday's loser at 7 p.m. Saturday for the other state qualifier.

ML 000 001 030 - 4 9 1
H 000 010 000 - 1 3 2

WP: Raiche
LP: Trick
HR: Cody Decker
3B: Jerpseth
2B: Albrecht

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.