Grand Rapids Baseball Reaches Class AAA Semis for 4th Straight Year

“Déjà vu” might be an appropriate way to describe Grand Rapids baseball. For the fourth straight season, they’re back at the Class AAA state tournament, and for the second year in a row they went in unseeded, having to face the 2-seed in the quarterfinal.

And once again, the Thunderhawks would call on lefty Easton Sjostrand to take the hill and hold the opposition at bay while their red-hot bats got to work on the offensive side of the plate. Grand Rapids was taking on Mankato East, a team they had never faced off against until Thursday’s quarterfinal match-up.

The Thunderhawks beat the Cougars 4-3 and have reached the Class AAA semifinal for the fourth consecutive year (again, déjà vu). They did it behind Sjostrand’s complete-game eight-strikeout performance and some timely hitting on offense.

“They always love it when I pitch because I always show strikes and they can always be ahead and ready for the plate,” Sjostrand said.

When you’re walking up to bat, you’re just trying to put the ball in play and let them make the plays,” added catcher Jake Garski. “When you’re going up there, you just got to be confident and just swing at pitches in the zone and get some hits.”

“We bunted the ball when we had to,” stated head coach Bill Kinnunen. “We got a couple bunt base hits or one for sure, and we got big hits when we needed to.”

Sticking with the “déjà vu” theme, it just wouldn’t be right if Rapids didn’t square off with Mahtomedi for the fourth year in a row. The last three Class AAA state champs have had to go through either the Zyphers or the Thunderhawks. First pitch is Friday, June 14 at noon at the Chaska Athletic Park.