Pitching Shines, Bats Go Quiet in Rollercoaster Week for Hubmen Baseball

By Andy Buckner

After a week of an highs and an lows against Delano and Marshall, the Hubmen baseball team were given four chances to improve their record, which sat at 2-3 heading into the beginning of the week on April 28. Inclement weather forced the Hubmen’s matchup on Monday to be postponed to Wednesday, meaning the team would play four games in four days—a challenge that tests the mettle and depth of any high school baseball team.

The first contest of the week came Tuesday at the Mini-Met when the Hubmen hosted the Holy Family Fire. The Fire were a devastating opponent for the Hubmen last season, beating them by way of the mercy rule twice. Determined to flip the narrative, Griffin Dahmen—who has been the ace on the mound for the Hubmen thus far—was dominant on the mound once again, shutting down the opposing offense through the first five innings. However, in an unfortunate twist of fate, a sixth-inning bunt with two runners on base was picked up by Dahmen and overthrown at first base, allowing the two aforementioned baserunners to run free and score. That ended up being the only noteworthy offensive action in the game. No earned runs were scored throughout the entirety of the 2-0 Hubmen loss.

“It’s not a great recipe to win baseball games,” head coach Brandon Arnold said of the Hubmen’s cold offense, which was only able to string together three hits in the game. “When we have guys on base, we’ve got to have someone produce with a productive at-bat.”

While the Hubmen have still found ways to get on base via walks and errors, the big hits continued to evade them to kick off their taxing week.

After the tough loss, the Hubmen were able to find their way back into the win column. They were victorious on Wednesday against visiting Le Sueur-Henderson, who the Hubmen bats were able to get to for five runs, which proved to be just enough run support for starting pitcher Michael Thrune.

“We only had four hits, we walked four times, we were hit four other times, so right there is 12 baserunners,” Arnold pointed out. More baserunners mean more opportunities to score runs, which the Hubmen took up successfully. “We capitalized on our opportunities. When you get to 5 runs, you give yourself a good chance to win.”

While Thrune was not at his sharpest on the mound, he grinded out a 4-run, complete-game victory—mitigating the damage of 10 hits.

“Michael had to go through the heart of the order in the sixth and seventh inning and had a little bit of a different gear. He really had that bulldog mentality,” said Arnold, giving props to his sophomore playing in his third varsity season.

The 5-4 victory gave the Hubmen momentum going into a difficult assignment on the road against Mound Westonka. That momentum did not help the Hubmen avoid an ugly scene in Mound, getting blown out 14-0.

“That’s one that you move on from. You’re happy you get to play them again, because they’re a conference opponent. But kudos to them. We move on,” Arnold said.

With another quick opportunity to turn the page, the Hubmen played a much more formidable game to close out the week at the Mini-Met against Albert Lea. The contest was strikingly similar to the one against Holy Family to begin the week. Unfortunately, the Hubmen would also suffer a strikingly similar result.

With pitching depth well exhausted, sophomore Tyler Bohnsack was called up to make his varsity debut on the mound and was excellent, giving up just two earned runs in a complete-game effort. He let his defense go to work, striking out just two but minimizing hard contact. The Hubmen bats once again went cold, getting shut out for the third time in the week.

Overall, it was a frustrating week for the Hubmen. The team is efficient on the bases. They know how to score runs when they produce quality at-bats. The quality at-bats, however, need to start coming more frequently for the Hubmen to consistently win and reach their high potential this season.

Analyzing the offense, Arnold was sure to point out the quality baserunning and thought highly of the potential of this team should they find their way on the basepaths more often.

“The amount of times we’ve been on base, we’ve been aggressive. Guys are taking extra bases, going first to third. We’ve done a good job (on the bases). We’ve just got to get on more.”

Another busy week—hopefully one with more baserunning opportunities—lies ahead for the Hubmen. They host an exciting doubleheader at the Mini-Met against Southwest Christian Tuesday night, with the first game starting at 4:30 p.m. That doubleheader will be followed by two long road trips: the first to Delano, then to La Crescent, as the whole program travels down to take on the Lancers. A winning season is still in play for these Hubmen, and just a few key hits could help turn the tide from this difficult past week.

Here are the most notable performances from the past week:

4/29 vs. Holy Family
Griffin Dahmen (Jr.): 7 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 K

4/30 vs. Le Sueur-Henderson
Michael Thrune (So.): 7 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 4 ER, 5 K
       2 AB, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 RBI

5/2 vs. Albert Lea
Tyler Bohnsack (So.): 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

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