The Champlin Park Rebels baseball team got a key 8-0 home victory over their Brooklyn Park neighbors on Park Center/Columbia Heights/Maranatha Pirates on April 30.
Rebels baseball head coach Ryan Tohm said after the game that the Rebels have been looking to improve their execution at bat as the second half of the season looms close, feeling confident about their performances at the mound and in the field.
“Our ultimate goal is just to always play Rebels baseball. ... We feel like [recently] we’ve been swinging the bat a little better,” he said. “That’s something that’s been missing at times, so if we can get just continue to improve with our at-bats we’re good to go because the pitching’s been great, fielding’s been great. I like the direction we’re headed in.”
Tohm noted that while the Rebels’ win did come against a non-conference opponent, he is always looking for his players to show they can lock into any challenge and find a win after some recent close results. Both Section 5AAAA teams, the Pirates are in the Tri-Metro Conference and Champlin Park in the Northwest Suburban.
“Part of it is about opponents. ... Park Center’s a big school but they’re not in our conference, so it’s about matchups but I do like to see this,” Tohm said. “We always challenge our guys to come out and play Rebel baseball, get locked in. They did that today.”
The two teams held one another to 0-0 after three innings, as Park Center/Columbia Heights/Maranatha’s Will Severson and Champlin Park’s Nick Carlson both had electric early innings at the mound, collecting strikeouts and collaborating well with their respective infields.
Pirates’ first baseman Luke Hoven tagged out multiple Rebels early in the game, while Cullen O’Rourke closed out the second inning with a diving catch at left field. Champlin Park’s Max Janisch did well with a short-range catch at third base in the bottom of the second, while the Rebels ended the third inning with an impressive double play between Chase Oxborough and Tyler Phenow at second and first respectively.
The game opened up for Champlin Park in the top of the fourth. After an early out, the Rebels got feet to bases with a walk for Brady Schornstein and a single for catcher Ty McGee. Carlson then hit an RBI single to get Schornstein home, before Rhys George hit an RBI double for Connor Sammon, who had come on as a courtesy for McGee, and Paul Dylong. A box call got Janisch home to make it 4-0 before Nolan Schneider found a catch in the outfield to stop the bleeding.
The Pirates looked for a response, getting the likes of Ty Lovcik onto the bases, but Champlin Park was ready at every turn. Brockton Sandell and Phenow combined for a double play at the bottom of the fourth to close that inning, while Oxborough dived for a key catch in the bottom of the fifth as it remained 4-0.
Champlin Park packed on the pain in the top of the sixth to cement the win. Kennedy Capp had come in to pitch and faced a tough challenge as Carlson earned a walk, then switched out for Preston Thielke as a courtesy, before Oxborough forced an error at second base with an RBI single to help Thielke get home. Oxborough later scored a run off of a second error. Caleb Greer and Dylong also scored runs, the latter off of an RBI single from Sandell.
The Pirates kept at it, now down 8-0, but could not kindle their recent scoring into a flame for the day as a double play between Champlin Park’s Oxborough and Evan Nordby and a catch for Luca Magnan closed out the game in the top of the seventh.
Other results
Park Center/Columbia Heights/Maranatha played three other games last week. Jose Garcia and Lovcik starred in a 17-5 conference win over Kennedy with three runs each. Schneider played provider with four RBI that day. Following their loss to Champlin Park, the team earned a second win of the week by beating St. Anthony 5-2. This improved their Tri-Metro Conference record to 7-1.
The Pirates did find a victory over Northwest Suburban opposition later last week, beating Spring Lake Park 8-0 on the road on May 3. The Panthers entered the game with an impressive 6-3 conference record, the third-best in the NWSC. The team saw runs scored by Garcia, Schneider, Beau Brastch, Nevan Johnson and two for Lovcik and Gavin Jessen. Lovcik and Garcia also had two RBI each.
Champlin Park followed their win over the Pirates with a 4-3 loss to Andover on May 1. The win was Andover’s fifth consecutive win, four of which were in conference play. The Rebels concluded the week on a high note, beating Rocori 3-0 in a non-conference matchup on May 3.
PCM will play three Tri-Metro conference games the following week, traveling to Cooper on May 6 (after this edition went to press), before hosting DeLaSalle on Wednesday, May 8, and traveling to Richfield on Friday, May 10.
Champlin Park will play three games the following week, including two conference matchups with Maple Grove and Osseo on May 7 and 9 respectively. They then will host Sartell on Friday, May 10.
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