HIBBING—The Hibbing High School baseball team didn’t do themselves any favors by spotting International Falls a 3-0 lead after a half inning.
The Bluejackets had to respond, and they did so in the bottom of the first with three runs of their own.
From there, Hibbing outscored the Broncos 12-1 en route to a 15-4, five-inning, 10-run rule victory over International Falls Tuesday at Al Nyberg Field.
The top of the first started when Thompson led off with an infield hit, then an error put the Broncos in business.
With one out, Olson walked, then Carlson walked to force home a run. Hasbargen singled home two runs to give International Falls the early lead.
“You make it difficult on yourself,” Hibbing coach Jay Wetzel said. “The leadoff hitter gets on by a dribbler, then we make an error. We have a guy picked off, then we don’t execute it.
“All of a sudden, a couple of hits here and there, and there’s three runs. That’s not how you want to draw it up. We did something similar down in southern Minnesota. We gave up two in the first, then we put up nine zeros in a 10-inning game.”
The Bluejackets wasted little time getting those three runs back when Brayden Rewertz led off with a walk, then with one out, Luke Nelson doubled. Kody Birmes singled home a run, then Ryder Petrie walked.
Kadin Augustine singled two runs to tie the game.
“That’s huge,” Wetzel said. “We evened it up by scoring those three runs to restart it so to speak. Offensively, our guys were patient. We took a ton of walks and got some extra bases.
“We took advantage of that.”
Augustine, who started the mound for Hibbing, settled in after that first inning and kept International Falls off the board from the second through fourth innings, allowing only one runner to reach second base.
Offensively, the Bluejackets would send 11 batters to the plate in the second inning, scoring six times to take a 9-3 lead.
Rewertz and Jace Kampsula drew back-to-back walks, then following a fielder’s choice ground ball, Birmes walked to load the bases. Ryder Petrie hit an RBI single, then with two out, Tate Swanson walked to force home a run. Edrtic Cardona was hit-by-a-pitch for an RBI, then Gavin Lamphere walked to force home a run.
Rewertz would hit a two-run single to end the scoring.
Wetzel like his teams’ plate appearances during the rally.
“All year long, we’ve been pretty good about it,” Wetzel said. “We didn’t chase. We walked 10 times in four innings of batting. If they’re going to walk us, we’ll take them. In that way, with the handful of hits that we ended up having, we were able to score a bunch of runs on nine hits.
“For ourselves, defensively, that is exactly what we want to stay away from, giving those free passes. We did for the most part. We were fortunate enough to have a couple of double plays there today. That helped eliminate some of those baserunners.”
After a scoreless third inning, the Bluejackets came back with six runs in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 12.
Drew Forer and Rewertz had RBI hits during the inning, and Kampsula and Nelson had RBI walks. Augustine also had an RBI during the inning.
International Falls would try to rally in the fifth, taking advantage of two Bluejacket errors to load the bases.
Olson hit a sacrifice fly to make it 15-4. After a single to reload the bases, Augustine struck out the next hitter to end the game.
Wetzel would have liked to have seen a cleaner fifth inning, but sometimes, that’s the way the ball bounces.
“There was a hard-hit ball that crawled up our infielder’s arm, and another hard-hit ball that we bobbled and didn’t get the force,” Wetzel said. “Those are two outs that get you out of the inning without giving up any (runs).
“Those balls were hit hard and that happens. You try to limit those to the best of your ability. We were fortunate to wiggle out of it by just giving up one that inning.”
Augustine gave up six hits in five innings of work. He struck out three and walked four.
P. Olson started for the Broncos, working two innings. He allowed five hits, struck out three and walked seven. J. Olson tossed 1 ⅓ innings of two-hit ball, walking three. Hasbargen tossed ⅔ of an inning, giving up two hits. He struck out two.
Augustine had three hits. Rewertz and Birmes each had two hits.
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