WHS BASEBALL: Worthington sweeps doubleheader with Windom 9-1, 10-9

WINDOM — Blake Rogers had just finished catching a masterful pitching performance.

It turns out, he had a couple pretty good innings in him, as well.

A junior on Worthington’s baseball team, Rogers put the finishing touches on a sweep against Windom Monday afternoon.

“Blake is a competitor,” WHS head coach Stacy Sauerbrei said. “He throws hard. Today, he had good command of the strike zone. It’s a real nice to have him come into a game. Sometimes we forget that he’s a pitcher because he does such a nice job catching.”

In Game 1, it was the left arm of Lucas Henning that propelled the Trojans to a 9-1 victory.

But in the second game, the Trojans needed to rally for a 10-9 victory to remain undefeated this season.

“Give them credit,” Henning said. “They are a good team. They keep fighting and used different pitchers. Everyone up and down the lineup can really hit.”

Henning threw six innings, allowed one unearned run on three hits while walking one and striking out nine.

“I didn’t feel like I was throwing my fastball that hard and I didn’t feel like I had good location,” he said. “But the curveball and change-up was probably my best so far this year. My command with those were pretty good.”

Travis Janssen scored the lone run for the Eagles in the second inning after drawing a one-out walk. He scored on an error later in the inning.

“He always comes and he always has his A game,” Rogers said of Henning. “The back-door curveball was getting the righties there. He pitched a really good game.”

Nate Ray closed out the game with a scoreless seventh inning.

Offensively, Henning helped his own cause with a pair of hits, while Tommy Hayenga had two hits, including a double in the first inning. He scored on Tanner Rogers’ single to give WHS its first run of the game.

Blake Rogers had two hits and drove in two runs, including a run-scoring single in the four-run third inning. Tyler Verdoorn drove in two runs, including a key run-scoring double in the third. He also added an RBI sacrifice fly in the Trojans’ two-run seventh.

Meanwhile, Drake Borsgard, Brandon Thongvivong and Jake Holt each had a hit in the game for Windom.

“I love facing a guy like Henning,” Windom head coach Brad Schlomann said. “I thought that was great. Defensively, when we started to lapse, I thought our offense lapsed also. I don’t think we challenged them in the fifth, sixth and seventh inning. I’m so glad they threw Henning. I realize we may not be the best team in the conference, but I’m so glad they threw Henning against us because I want to face that. That can only help us.”

Game 2 was wild from the beginning.

After an Eagle run in the first, the Trojans answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Tyler Hatterman and Turner Hagen each drove in a run as WHS took a 4-1 lead.

That lead increased to 6-1 after a two-run single by Hagen an inning later.

But Windom had an answer.

“We just got beat 9-1, and we fall behind 6-1 and we have the fortitude to keep coming and keep fighting,” Schlomann said. “We just couldn’t win the last three innings. I told the kids I was proud of them because of the way they battled.”

The Eagles sent 10 batters to the plate in the third inning. They scored six runs, led by a two-run triple by Holt and a two-run double by Thongvivong.

“Lucas was sharp the first game and we were hitting it where they weren’t,” Sauerbrei said. “Things went well for us, but usually in the second game of a doubleheader, you can’t expect the luck to be with you all the time. Windom is going to play you hard. They came back and their effort was tremendous. They kept coming back and kept putting the pressure on us. I’ll tip my hat to them.”

Windom would only score two more runs in the game. Janssen scored in the fourth on a Holt sac fly.

But WHS added two runs in the third on a two-run double by Henning.

“I think I just concentrated a little more on batting,” Henning said. “In the first game, I was pitching, so I was concentrating on that. The second game I just had fun and hit the ball.”

The Trojans added a run in the fourth after Aaron Pavelko drew a bases-loaded walk. WHS scored what proved to be the game-winning run in the fifth as Blake Rogers scored on Hatterman’s single.

Windom scored in the sixth as Janssen crossed the plate after an error, but that would be all Windom could get off Blake Rogers.

“The first inning, I walked a guy right away but I got out of there with one run,” Blake Rogers said. “The second inning, I was kind of in the zone. I had my curveball working in the second inning. I guess I just threw strikes.”

Rogers recorded six outs — five of them by strikeout — and allowed one unearned run.

“This year, coach said he’s expecting innings out of me on the mound,” he said. “So I’m just going to step it up and do what I can.”

Windom falls to 2-8 this year and is 0-6 in the conference. Redwood Valley visits the Eagles today.

The Trojans improve to 8-0 this season and are a perfect 5-0 in the Southwest Conference. They host Pipestone Area today.

“I think it just shows a lot of our heart,” Henning said. “We don’t want to lose and we never give up. It’s shown the last couple of weeks.”

Game 1 R H E

WHS 104 200 2 — 9 11 2

Win. 010 000 0 — 1 3 5

Game 2 R H E

Win. 106 101 0 — 9 10 2

WHS 422 110 X — 10 9 1

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Tags: sports, prep, baseball, trojans, windom