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PERHAM – Barnseville gave the Perham baseball team one of the biggest scares in the Minnesota High School baseball playoffs on Tuesday night.
The No. 8 Trojans held a 10-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning against the No. 1 Yellowjackets (20-1). Perham, the fourth-ranked team in the state, according to Minnesota-Scores.net ORF polls, scraped three runs across with two outs to avoid a first-round upset.
Blaiz Schmidt tied the game at 10-10 with a seeing-eye single to score Gamble Bye from second base. Austin Aanenson recorded his fifth hit of the game one batter later before Chas Melvin ripped a two-out triple off of the center field wall to take a two-run lead.
Schmidt danced around a one-out walk in the top of the seventh inning and got a double play to end the game.
The Yellowjackets took a 7-0 lead in the first two innings. Ben Shumansky hit a three-run home run in the first inning before hitting another long ball in the second. Shumansky had five RBIs on home runs in his first two plate appearances.
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After Barnesville pieced together a couple of runs, Logan Pulju hit a two-run shot to take a 9-2 lead.
Barnesville’s big inning came in the top of the fifth. The Trojans scored eight runs on six hits, two walks and two errors. Schmidt came in relief on the mound midway through the inning.
Aanenson and Shumansky led the way for the Yellowjackets offensively. Aanenson was 5-for-5 with three runs scored. Shumansky added a single to go along with his two long balls.
This was Perham’s third win over Barnesville this season. The Yellowjackets swept a May 15 doubleheader 11-1 and 15-4.
Perham survived the single-elimination portion of the Section 8-2A tournament and will begin double-elimination play on Thursday at Kruger Field against the winner of No. 4 Pelican Rapids and No. 5 Frazee. The first pitch is at 2:30 p.m. Win or lose–the Yellowjackets will play again at 4:30.
