Baseball: Wingers tally another walk-off win

Red Wing is making the exhilarating seem mundane.

After falling behind 3-2 in the sixth inning, the Wingers tied the game with a run in the seventh inning and then senior Carsten Meyer coaxed a bases-loaded walk to secure a 4-3 eighth inning walk-off win against Hudson Saturday at the Red Wing Athletic Field.

Red Wing (14-1, 11-1 Missota) now has three walk-off victories, including the last two games, and five wins by just one run.

“These guys are very confident,” Red Wing head coach Jim Bohmbach said. “We execute things really well sometimes late in games.”

Ninth-grader Ty Buck singled in the second inning and scored Red Wing’s first run on a base hit by senior Dayton Johnson to take a 1-0 lead. The Wingers scored again in the third inning when senior Zach Garner led off with a single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by junior Ryan Boldt. Boldt finished 0-for-3.

Johnson kept Hudson scoreless for the first 5 2/3 innings, giving up just two hits but he ran into trouble in the sixth inning. Mike Hommes started the inning with a single for Hudson and stole second base. After a fly out by Brett Steinwagner, Hudson put the next four hitters on base, including an RBI double by Todd Mork, and took the lead 3-2. Mork finished 1-for-2 with Hudson’s only extra-base hit. Garner finished the sixth inning on the mound.

In the seventh inning, Red Wing senior Joel Newman led off with a single and stole second base.

“I was just looking for a fastball,” Newman said. “I was trying to be aggressive and get on base. It’s the mentality you have to have late in games.”

Johnson followed with a pop up for the first out of the inning and junior Preston Blaney and senior Erin Foley both walked to load the bases. After a strikeout put the Wingers down to their last out, senior David Goggin was hit by a pitch to tie the game at 3-3. Goggin finished 2-for-3. Boldt smashed a fly ball to center field but Hudson was playing deep and was able to make the catch, a recent trend against Red Wing’s middle of the batting order.

“Everybody’s moved back on us,” Bohmbach said. “We hit the ball hard again tonight, just right at them.”

Garner set down Hudson 1-2-3 in the seventh and eighth innings to set the stage for the walk-off celebration.

Buck got the rally started for the Wingers with one out in the eighth inning on a single to centerfield and he finished 2-for-4 with a run scored to lead Red Wing.

“(Buck) is about as confident a ninth grader I’ve seen in my life,” Bohmbach said. “I think he’s proven himself.”

Senior Karsten Lampman came on as a pinch runner for Buck, advancing to second base on a wild pitch and moving to third base on a groundout to second base by Newman. Hudson’s Josh Evanson proceeded to walk Johnson, hit Blaney and walk Meyer on four pitches, the final pitch coming close to the strike zone, to score Lampman for the winning run.

“That last one was really close,” Meyer said. “But we got it and we’ll take it.”

Garner threw 2 1/3 innings in relief, allowing one hit and striking out two to pick up the win.

The Wingers tallied nine hits in the victory.

Red Wing plays Academy of Holy Angels Tuesday at the Red Wing Athletic Field.

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