Ely’s Junior Legion baseball team lost just once during the regular season, but exacted some revenge in a big way on Wednesday.
In a battle of top seeds, it was all-Ely as Post 248 dominated Aitkin and rolled to an 11-1, five-inning victory at Hermantown’s Fichtner Field.
Junior Evan Leeson went four-for-four with two doubles to lift Ely (15-1), while pitcher Cedar Holman fired a three-hitter.
The win came in the Division II Northeast Substate winners’ bracket, and put Ely into the title game, which will take place either Sunday or Monday.
Aitkin bounced back later Wednesday and eliminated Esko 6-5 in eight innings, setting up a rematch with a berth in the upcoming state tournament at Parkers Prairie on the line.
Aitkin needs a win to force a decisive game for the title, while one more victory would put Ely in the Division II state tournament for a third consecutive season and a fourth time in five years.
During an early-season matchup, Aitkin scored a 9-7 win over Ely for Post 248’s only loss of the season.
Aitkin also came into Tuesday’s game following two impressive wins while Ely had to work to get past both Mt. Iron-Buhl and Cook County.
But Holman shut down the Aitkin bats and Ely got some clutch hitting early on.
A two-out single by DJ Johnson put Ely in front in the second inning, and Leeson lined a two-run single to make it 3-0.
In the third, Sean Merriman singled, stole two bases and scored on a Grant Chittum groundout, but Aitkin got on the board to trim the gap back to three runs.
Ely put things away in the fourth and fifth.
A Leeson double plated Tyde Brecke and made it 6-1, while Post 248 sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning, scoring five times on just two hits.
One was a run-scoring single by Leeson to complete his four-for-four, and Henry Fetterer doubled, walked twice and scored two runs.
On the mound, Holman yielded only three hits while walking two and fanning four batters.
• In a Monday winners’ bracket tilt, Ely got past Cook County 5-1 as Owen Marolt went four-for-four with a double and triple.
Ely used four pitchers in the contest that started Sunday night in Cherry but was suspended by rain in the bottom of the first.
Parker Niskala worked the first inning on the hill, with Brecke going the next two and Leeson following with a three-inning stint. Holman had a five-pitch seventh to complete the victory.
• Ely trailed 4-0 after one inning but rallied to beat Mt. Iron-Buhl 8-4 in an opening- round affair on Sunday at Cherry.
Heading into the fifth, Ely trailed 4-1, but the lead was trimmed to one with the help of two walks, an MIB error and a Holman single.
Leeson’s bases-loaded walk tied the game in the sixth and Marolt followed with a single that put Ely in front to stay. Three more Ely runs would score to pad the lead.
That was plenty of cushion for winning pitcher Sean Merriman, who went six shutout innings in relief, allowing four hits with three stirkeouts.
Merriman’s best work came in the sixth, when he wiggled out of a bases loaded, no-out jam unscathed.
• The title game with Aitkin depends on when Ely is done with play in this weekend’s Senior Legion Division II State Tournament at Glenwood.
Whoever wins the junior substate title advances to Parkers Prairie for the Division II State Junior Legion Tournament, which starts Friday, Aug. 7 and runs through the weekend.
