Baseball: Wingers fall to Eastview at state

ST. PAUL - Red Wing went to the well time and again for clutch hits all season long but against Eastview Friday during the first round of the Class 3A state baseball tournament the well went dry.

Eastview’s Evan DeCovich pitched a complete game six-hitter and Red Wing made crucial mistakes to fall 3-1 at Midway Stadium.

“We never got the momentum on our side,” Red Wing head coach Jim Bohmbach said. “We didn’t come up with those clutch hits. I think we’ve had that all year. It just didn’t happen today.”

DeCovich struck out five and walked one to pick up the victory. He also picked off a runner in the first inning.

“He was really good and he threw hard,” Bohmbach said. “He had a really good move. … When you get to this point, you’re going to be facing really good pitchers.”

Senior Zach Garner started even better for the Wingers, striking out the first four batters of the game and finishing the game with seven strikeouts in six innings.

“I wasn’t coming out trying to do that,” Garner said. “You get the goosebumps going in a state game.”

Eastview got to Garner in the second inning, getting a run on three consecutive singles and another on a delayed double steal to go up 2-0.

Not getting the runner at second base was a turning point in the game because DeCovich was throwing too well to put up a crooked number, Bohmbach said.

“If we can get that out and keep it to a one-run game, it’s different,” Bohmbach said. “Trying to get three against (DeCovich) was a pretty big chore. It just didn’t go our way that inning.”

The Lightning tallied another run in the fourth inning when Chris Narum, AJ Stockwell and Quinn Trusty hit consecutive singles. Stockwell finished 3-for-3 with an RBI and Narum was 2-for-3 with two runs scored to lead Eastview.

Garner helped jumpstart the Wingers in the sixth inning with a leadoff double and moved to third on a single by senior David Goggin. Junior Ryan Boldt stepped to the plate with an opportunity to put a dent in the Lightning lead but Scott Nelson made a diving catch into centerfield on Boldt’s pop up to steal momentum despite Boldt getting an RBI on a sacrifice fly to pull Red Wing within 3-1. The Wingers were set down in order in the seventh inning.

“When that doesn’t fall in, you’re fighting something, maybe it’s not your day,” Bohmbach said. “(Eastview) played great, there wasn’t anything they did wrong.”

Six different players had hits for Red Wing, with Boldt going 1-for-2 with an RBI and Garner finishing 1-for-3 with a run scored.

The Wingers play Totino-Grace at 5:30 p.m. at Dunning Field in St. Paul.

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