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Ely’s high school baseball team won’t scare many opponents with its bats.
But Tuesday night, the Timberwolves found another way to reach the Section 7A finals, laying down three successful squeeze bunts in a four-run sixth inning to stun Cherry 7-4 at Veterans Memorial Field.
The win, which came after a 7-2 loss to South Ridge earlier in the day, put the Wolves in the 7A title game for the first time since 2022.
Ely was set for a rematch with number-one seed South Ridge, in a contest completed Thursday after deadline. The Wolves needed a win in the opening game to force a decisive second game for the section crown and a berth in next week’s state tournament.
Trailing 4-3 in the top of the sixth, Ely came back against the Tigers with a rally that was predicated on “small ball.”
Senior Jace Huntbatch singled to get things rolling and Tyde Brecke followed with a bunt single.
A wild pitch moved the runners up and set the stage for Jack Davies’ squeeze bunt that tied the game.
That ended starting pitcher Noah Asuma’s night and the Tigers brought in hard-throwing ace Noah Sundquist.
Drew Johnson greeted him with a single that plated Brecke with the go-ahead run, but the Wolves were nowhere near done.
Both Ben Leeson and Evan Leeson put down squeeze bunts against the shell-shocked Tigers and Ely was on its way.
“It was all about the bunts,” said Ely Head Coach Frank Ivancich. “We got in a position where we could bunt and they had some trouble with them and we got the bunts down when we had to. No doubt it was the difference in the game.”
Winning pitcher Owen Marolt, who went the distance, was nicked for a couple of runs in the first inning but largely kept the Tigers (17-7) off balance.
In the seventh, Cherry put one runner aboard but centerfielder Sean Merriman chased down a deep fly ball off the bat of Isaiah Asuma to secure the win.
Marolt tossed a six-hitter, issued just two walks and struck out two to pick up the biggest win of his high school career.
Huntbatch had two hits for the Wolves, while Caid Chittum added a couple of hits and scored a run, and Drew Johnson finished with two hits and a run batted in. Evan Leeson came up with two RBI.
Cherry’s Noah Asuma, who is a University of Minnesota commit, struck out seven before giving way to Sundquist, who struck out four and gave up only the hit to Johnson in his two innings of work.
“We did a lot of little things right and Owen kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win against a very good Cherry team,” said Ivancich. “We don’t have a lot of power so we have to be able to bunt when we need to, and we executed against Cherry.”
• In Tuesday’s opening game, South Ridge scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth, opening up a tight game and going on to win the winners’ bracket final.
A two-run home run by South Ridge freshman Sam Pretasky broke a one-all deadlock in the third and put the Panthers on top to stay.
Winning pitcher Gavin Willeck, a sophomore lefty, scattered 10 hits and struck out 11 for the winners.
Ely left nine runners aboard, including the bases loaded in the top of the first inning.
Merriman had two hits and two runs batted in and Chittum finished with two hits for the Wolves.
Junior Hunter Halbakken got tagged with only his second loss of the year. He went six innings and gave up 10 hits.
• Ely reached the final four of the tournament with a come-from-behind, 4-3 win at Cherry on May 29.
Cherry led 3-1 with one out in the seventh when Sundquist reached his maximum of 115 pitches and had to leave the mound.
The Wolves greeted reliever Mason Heitzman with back-to-back doubles by Ben Leeson and Chittum, trimming the gap to one run.
Evan Leeson’s two-out single to left plated Chittum, and after a Merriman double, Leeson scored the winning run on a wild pitch.
Halbakken, who allowed six hits and picked up his ninth win of the season, finished with four strikeouts.
Chittum, Merriman and Evan Leeson all wound up with two hits each.
