St. Peter holds off Henderson upset bid, wins 3-2 and returns to state tourney

By Dana Melius, Le Sueur News-Herald

Saints veteran pitcher Jesse Anderson talked before Saturday’s state-qualifying game at Veterans Field in St. Peter that it might be time to hang up his spikes.

After tossing four scoreless innings and helping the No. 2 seeded Saints to a tense 3-2 come-from-behind, 11-inning victory over the upset-minded No. 6 seeded Henderson Tigers in the Region 6C playoffs, he was already reconsidering.

“I guess I’m playing one more year,” said the 38-year-old Anderson. The St. Peter over-35 team just might have to wait. "I'm glad we hung in there. But that's baseball."

And town team baseball brought Anderson back to the Saints and now a third straight state tourney.

"It's nice that the wife and kid let me play again," smiled Anderson.

The Saints were down to their last strike in the bottom of the ninth inning when left-handed hitting Jeff Menk laced a sharp single to right off Tiger reliever Clayton Meyer, scoring teammate Jordan Wilmes, who had earlier walked and stole second.

Wilmes came up big again for St. Peter in the 11th inning, doubling to deep left-center field. After Seth Wenner flied out to deep center field, Wilmes tagged and went to third. The Tigers appealed the play, believing Wilmes left second base before the catch, but the umpires said no.

Henderson opted to intentionally walk Menk, but the Saints’ Jayme Munsterman hit a short fly to center, just out of the reach of Tiger outfielder Trevor Block, and St. Peter earned a 3-2 victory and a third consecutive trip to the Class C Minnesota Amateur Baseball Association Tournament.

The Saints earned the third seed for Region 6C and will play the second seed from Region 12B on Saturday, Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m. either in Hutchinson or Dassel, who are hosting the 2016 state along with the third site if needed, Litchfield.

Gaylord upset top-seeded Jordan 3-2 Saturday night to win the Region 6C championship.

At the start of Saturday’s game, Saints Manager Tom Lacina was a bit worried, missing some key players due to the game being postponed from Friday night due to a wet field. Leading hitter and first-year outfielder Jovan Rodriguez and his .415 batting average and blazing speed, along with regular third baseman Shea Roehrkasse (.326) were unavailable.

And the Saints’ offense struggled against Henderson starting pitcher Adam Arnst, who held St. Peter to just two hits through eight innings. He struck out just one Saints hitter, but Arnst mixed up pitches and kept the Saints off balance. Henderson also was helped out by double plays in the fourth and fifth innings.

But it was a big Saints' defensive double play in the 10th inning which might have finally broke the Tigers’ backs. Henderson’s Greg Graham reached on his third hit of the game, beating out an infield grounder which Saints first baseman Menk knocked down but couldn’t get an on-target throw to Anderson, who was covering first. Kirby Wentworth followed with a single, and when Matt Graham was hit by a pitch, the bases were filled with no outs.

A brief conference at the mound by Lacina must have worked. Meyer’s sharp liner to a drawn in infield was snared by Munsterman at shortstop, who doubled up the Tigers’ Greg Graham off third base. Henderson’s James Van Buskirk flew out to center, and St. Peter dodged the threat.

Luke Schwarz started on the mound for St. Peter, striking out six and walking just one in seven innings of work. But the Tigers’ offense kept putting runners on base against the right-hander. Right off the bat in the top of the first, Greg and Matt Graham each singled but were stranded on base by a Schwarz strikeout.

The Tigers scored their first run in the fourth inning but could have had more. Singles by Weckworth, and Matt Graham were followed by a two-out RBI single by Chase Boehne. But another strikeout by Schwarz left two more Tiger runners stranded on base.

St. Peter matched Henderson in the fourth, scoring an unearned run. Ty Kaus led off reaching first on a Henderson fielding error. Ryan Kapsner bunted Kaus to second and he scored on a Wilmes' RBI single.

The Tigers stranded two more runners in the fifth.

Henderson’s go-ahead run in the 7th inning started with a lead-off single by Philip Champagne, Pinch runner Grant Miller stole second and scored on a long two-out RBI double by Greg Graham.

But with Meyer relieving Arnst in the ninth, the Saints’ heroics began. And after Wilmes touched home again in the 11th, a dejected Henderson Tiger team saw its hopes for a first-ever state tournament berth slip away.

Greg Graham paced the Tigers with a 3-for-5 game, a double and an RBI. Matt Graham and Weckworth each went 2 for 4, as the Tigers out-hit the Saints by a 10 to 6 margin.

Wilmes led the Saints with a 2-for-4 game, a double and an RBI. Munsterman added two hits, including the game-winner. Menk and C.J. Siewert had the other St. Peter hits.