NYM defeats Nevis 8-2 to continue season

Isaac Kawlewski held the jersey of his fallen teammate Blake Unger prior to the start of Thursday’s baseball game in New York Mills.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Braxton Ehnert went 2-4 with a pair of runs scored during last week’s must-win game against Nevis.

Baseball almost took a backseat on Thursday night as the New York Mills community turned out to honor the life of Blake Unger. The recent NY Mills graduate died as a result of a car accident in rural Bluffton on Tuesday night, just hours after the Eagles fell to Frazee in the sub section semi-finals at home. 

On Thursday, the Eagles honored Unger with a balloon release, paying respect to his parents and carrying his jersey to the captains meeting at home plate. While the Eagles went on to defeat Nevis by a score of 8-2, just taking the field less-than two days after Unger’s passing was already a victory for NY Mills.

If the Eagles, who are 12-9 on the season, want to continue their season, they will need to win five more games in one week. 

Photos by Chad Koenen
Finn Roder pitched a complete game and struck out five Nevis hitters during last week’s elimination bracket game against the Tigers.

On Monday the Eagles took on Mille Lacs and the winner of the game will take on either Sebeka or Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale on Tuesday afternoon. The winner of that game will take on the loser of Frazee and Ogilvie on Tuesday evening in Pierz. 

The Section 5A championship game will be held on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in Pierz. If the winner from the elimination bracket wins the first game the two teams in the championship game will play a winner-take-all game immediately following the first game on Thursday. 

Tuesday

Frazee’s Asher Blaine and NY Mills’ Isaac Kawlewski combined to strike out 26 batters and gave up just five hits over a combined 15 innings of action on Tuesday night. 

Evan Doll connects with a pitch during last week’s game against Nevis.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the lone run the two starting pitchers gave up came off the bat of Frazee’s Adam Vigen with two outs in the top of the eighth inning that brought the winning run in to score from second base and hand the fifth seeded Frazee Hornets a 1-0 upset win over the top seeded NY Mills Eagles on Tuesday night. 

The Eagles were held to just one hit in the pitcher’s duel, a two out single by Braxton Ehnert in the bottom of the first inning. NY Mills did not get another base runner until there were two outs in the sixth inning as the next 15 hitters were retired in order by Blaine, who gave up just one hit in the 1-0 win.

NY Mills had a chance to come away with a dramatic win in the bottom of the seventh inning when Ehnert led off the inning with a walk, but was caught stealing on the next batter to end the scoring opportunity.

Kawlewski was brilliant on the mound for the Eagles as he went 7 1/3 innings and gave up just three hits, one earned run and two walks, while striking out 12 hitters. Finn Roder pitched the final 2/3 innings and gave up just one hit and struck out one batter over 2/3 innings. 

Blaine struck out 14 hitters over 7 2/3 innings, while giving up just one hit. 

The loss dropped the Eagles to the elimination bracket of the Section 5A tournament.

New York Mills vs. Frazee

AB R H     BI

Finn Roder 2 0 0 0

Blake Unger 3 0 0 0

Braxton Ehnert 2 0 1 0

Grady Roberts 3 0 0 0

Kolston Lofgren 3 0 0 0

Everett Ruther 3 0 0 0

Evan Doll 3 0 0 0

Bergen Roder 3 0 0 0

Hunter Bosman 2 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- 

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Isaac Kawlewski 7.1-3-1-1-2-12, Finn Roder 0.2-1-0-0-0-1

Thursday

On a night when baseball took a back seat to a tragic event from just two nights beforehand, the NY Mills Eagles defeated Nevis by a score of 8-2.

Prior to the start of the game the Eagles paid tribute to senior Blake Unger, who tragically passed away on Tuesday night in a single-vehicle accident north of Bluffton. The team released balloons, had a moment of silence and started the game without a third baseman in position as Unger was a staple on the hot corner all season long.

Fellow senior Isaac Kawlewski held Unger’s #24 jersey at home plate during the captains meeting prior to the game. 

In an ironic twist to the night, the Eagles posted two runs in the first inning and four in the second inning to have #24 on the scoreboard for the entirety of the game.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard when Kolston Lofgren hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Finn Roder across the plate. Following a Braxton Ehnert double, Grady Roberts made the score 2-0 with an RBI single to left field. 

NY Mills added four more runs in the second inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Finn Roder and Lofgren, before Roberts hit a two-run double to make the score 6-0. 

NY Mills added two more runs in the sixth inning, before Nevis scored two runs of their own in the top of the seventh inning to end the game by a score of 8-2. 

Ehnert and Roberts each finished with two hits in the win, while Roberts led the way with three RBIs. 

Roder went the distance for the Eagles after going seven innings, giving up six hits, two earned runs and striking out five hitters. 

New York Mills vs. Nevis

AB R H     BI

Finn Roder 2 3 1 1

Kolston Lofgren 3 1 1 2

Braxton Ehnert 4 2 2 0

Grady Roberts 4 0 2 3

Isaac Kawlewski 3 0 0 0

Everett Ruther 3 0 0 0

Evan Doll 3 0 0 0

Bergen Roder 1 2 1 0

Hunter Bosman 3 0 1 0

HITTING- 2B- Grady Roberts, Braxton Ehnert 2

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Finn Roder 7.0-6-2-2-1-5