Baseball: Bottom of the order produces for Red Wing

Red Wing displayed its depth Monday in its 7-1 section playoff opening win over Hastings.

The fifth-ranked Wingers (19-1) got most of its production from the bottom half of the lineup to advance to the final four of the section tournament. Red Wing will learn who it plays next after Tuesday. The Wingers will face the lowest remaining seed Thursday in Red Wing.

Wingers senior Joel Newman went 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI while senior Dayton Johnson went 2-for-3 with a run and junior Preston Blaney finished 1-for-2 with two RBI and a run.

Blaney jumpstarted Red Wing in the second inning with a two-run triple. The Wingers had two outs and Blaney had two strikes when he connected.

“We’ve been waiting for him to open it up a little bit,” Red Wing head coach Jim Bohmbach said.

The Wingers finished with 11 hits, including a solo homer from senior Mike Stegora in the third inning to give Red Wing a 4-0 lead. Junior Ryan Boldt drove in two runs in the sixth inning and went 2-for-4.

Wingers senior Zach Garner threw five effective innings. Garner gave up one run on three hits, walked two and struck out three. The one run Garner allowed came on a home run in the sixth inning.

Freshman Ty Buck came on to close out the game and did not allow a hit in two innings.

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