HIBBING—The Minnesota North-Hibbing baseball team earned the right to play in a tie-breaking game to make the MCAC playoffs.
The Cardinals dropped game one of a doubleheader to Minnesota North-Itasca 7-4, so they needed a split to move on to a one-game playoff with Rainy River.
In game two, Darren Loyola tossed a complete-game, five-hitter, and Minnesota North-Hibbing’s offense did the rest in an 8-2 victory over the Vikings Monday at Al Nyberg Field.
That set the stage for the Cardinals one-game playoff with the Voyageurs for the right to advance into the postseason.
Minnesota North-Hibbing coach Bob DeNucci never doubted it for a minute that his team could regroup and win game two.
“After losing that first one it would have been easy to quit and throw in the towel,” DeNucci said. “These guys are tough. They’re scrappy. We’ve played a tough schedule all year, the non-conference is tough.
“We’ve been through those periods where we talk about moving on from game one, if we lose it. You have to flush it and move on to game two. These guys have embraced that.”
It helped that Minnesota North-Hibbing scored three times in the second innings as Bruce Slygh had an RBI double, and Owen Hindermann an RBI single. Slygh stole home for the second run.
The Cardinals added another run in the third as Jacob Madrill hit an RBI fielder’s choice, but was a four-run lead big enough for DeNucci?
“You’re never safe against a good team like Itasca,” DeNucci said. “The way they swing the bats, I didn’t feel comfortable.”
Minnesota North-Hibbing did get one more run in the fourth as Conor Gilreath hit a solo home run, then the fifth, the Cardinals scored three more times as Hindermann had an RBI single, and Kris Rivera a two-run base hit.
“You feel a little better, but you know that they could come back and put up a lot of runs,” DeNucci said. “They swing the bats well.”
Minnesota North-Itasca put a little scare into Minnesota North-Hibbing by getting two runs in the top of the sixth with the aid of two walks, two errors and one passed ball, but that would all the Vikings could muster.
Loyola struck out 10 and walked two.
“We really needed that outing from Darren,” DeNucci said. “He stepped up big time.”
In game one, Minnesota North-Itasca scored once in the first on an RBI single off the bat of Paulsen, but Minnesota North-Hibbing tied in its half of the first on an RBI groundout by Gilreath.
Mike Hodsdon hit a solo home run for the Cardinals in the second, but the Vikings came back with a three-run third inning to make it 4-2.
Ominje had an RBI single, and Cruz hit a two-run single during the inning.
Minnesota North-Itasca did score once in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Paulsen to make it 5-2, but Toby Colline hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-4.
The Vikings dashed all hopes of a Cardinals comeback when Smith clubbed a three-run home run in the seventh.
Hindermann tossed seven innings of nine-hit ball, striking out five and walking two.
“They battled,” DeNucci said. “I thought Owen pitched well. I thought we battled hard.They never quit. Itasca is a good team.”
Duhan started for Minnesota North-Itasca, working two innings, allowing five hits. Hills tossed one inning, striking out one and walking two. Porchuha worked four innings, giving up three hits. He fanned four and walked two.
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