Willmar 7, Granite Falls 4
A two-run home-run in the second inning by Willmar’s Matt Seehusen paralyzed the Kilowatts en route to a 7-4 loss in the opening round of the Corn Belt South playoffs Wednesday in Willmar.
The No. 4-seeded Rails would eventually move on to lose to top-seeded Raymond on Friday, while the No. 5-seeded Kilowatts advanced to be drummed out of the double-elimination tournament by Bird Island in a game that spanned both Friday and Saturday.
Willmar began ringing up runs early in the ballgame, with Seehusen driving in the opening run in the first inning after a pair of back-to-back singles put Anthony Stern in scoring position. Granite Falls, meanwhile, struggled—as they have all year—to find timely hitting and would go seven innings before they were able to answer Willmar’s steady production of seven runs.
After Seehusen’s opening RBI, a pair of bunts in the second inning would help Willmar open up a commanding 4-0 lead as John Sawatzky, Matt Carlson and Matt Odom out-ran the Kilowatt defense to score.
After that, Seehusen returned to the plate to further vex the Kilowatts and essentially cap the game with a two-run blast to right-center. Seehusen ended the game having gone 3-for-4 on the night with two runs scored and another three batted in.
Willmar’s final run came as Matt Odom sprinted home from third on a double play ball, hit into the gap, with no outs.
Granite Falls tallied four runs, in vain, in the final two innings; as they hopelessly tried to pull themselves back into the game, too late. Three errors by Willmar, en route to those final four runs, attest to the Rails focus late in the game. Yet, starter Jason Scheffler held the mound to close the outing and earn the complete game win. Not the least bit overpowering, Scheffler struck out just three Kilowatt batters while alowing a disjointed eight Granite Falls hits.
Craig Listul earned the lone RBI for Granite Falls as he, Phil Johnson and Jake Suter led the Kilos offensively with 2-for-5 performances from the plate.
GF 000 000 022 — 4 8 3
Willmar 130 021 00x — 7 15 3
HITTING
Granite Falls: Phil Johnson 2-for-5, 2 runs; Jake Suter 2-for-4; Tyler Dammann 1-for-4; Craig Listul 2-for-4, rbi; Tyler Kanten 1-for-4
Willmar: Lane Kleist 2-for-5; Matt Sagedahl 1-for-5, rbi; Anthony Stern 1-for-5, 2 runs; Josh Dahlke 1-for-4; Matt Seehusen 3-for-4, 2-run HR, 3 rbi; Jordan Olson 2-for-4, 2b; John Sawatzky 2-for-4; Matt Carlson 1-for-4, rbi; Matt Odom 2-for-4, 2b, 2 runs
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)
Granite Falls: Cody Fruin (L) 5-10-6-5-0-6, Ethan Pauling 3-5-1-1-0-1
Willmar: Jason Scheffler (W) 9-8-4-2-3-3
