WORTHINGTON - Nathan Braaksma was due.
Post 5’s No. 3-hitter was 0-for-2 with a walk when he came to the plate with two down and runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh. Worthington was tied 2-2 with Edgerton.
“At first I was a little bit nervous,” Braaksma admitted. “That put some pressure on me but the way I was hitting earlier in the game I knew I was gonna get a hit. (Interim coach) Glenn (Thuringer) told me to get three good swings in. I knew if I got one good pitch I was gonna hit it.”
He got a first-pitch fastball from Post 42 reliever Jayden Bloemendaal and didn’t waste it. He cracked it up the middle for a single that scored King Blanchette from third. That gave Post 5 a dramatic 3-2 win after trailing for most of the contest.
“It felt good,” Braaksma said of seeing the ball sneak through the gap. “Their second baseman had been creeping over so I was a little nervous when I first hit it. I was happy it got through.”
The clutch single ended a pitcher’s dual that saw big defensive plays keep the offense to a minimum. Despite only six hits between them - including Braaksma’s winner - both teams had ample opportunities to put it away early.
Edgerton had a runner thrown out at home on a double-steal attempt to end the fifth and was threatening to add to its total again in the sixth. Tyus Janssen led off with a walk and moved to second on a Dayne Niemeyer sacrifice bunt.
There were two outs in the frame when he broke for third. Worthington’s throw down sailed into left field, prompting Janssen to put up and race for home. Post 5 left fielder Blake Fauskee threw a perfect strike to Blanchette behind the plate to kill the threat. At the time, it preserved a 2-1 deficit.
Fauskee followed that by legging out an infield single for the home team’s first hit of the game to lead off the sixth. He was eventually retired on a fielder’s choice, but Nate Russell provided the necessary damage.
He roped a single to left with two outs that scored Braaksma and knot the game at 2-all.
Post 42 had a golden opportunity to reclaim the lead in the seventh. Bloemendaal and Pete Kroll both walked with Jace Vander Maten reaching on a Worthington miscue in the middle. That had the bases loaded with only one out and the middle of Edgerton’s order coming up.
Post 5 made a pitching change in favor of Braaksma. He threw one pitch and got Luke Drooger to send a low looper towards no-man’s land on the infield. The ball never peaked high enough for the infield-fly rule to be called and Joe Pavelko ran in to make the catch. He flipped back to Russell covering second to complete an inning-ending double play.
“We made a couple mistakes but we had tough defense when we needed it to keep them from scoring,” Braaksma said.
Vander Maten singled and scored in the first to put Edgerton on top early. Trevor Wietzema scored to tie it on a fielder’s choice by Will Mulder in the second.
That held until the top of the third when Luke Nibbelink tripled and scored on an error to make it a 2-1 game until the sixth.
Braaksma pitched two-thirds of an inning for the win. Mulder went the first three and struck out six while allowing one earned run. Bloemendaal gave up two runs on two hits in 1 2/3 of relief of Wyatt Butson, who allowed just one hit in five-plus.
Fauskee, Russell and Braaksma all had a hit each for Post 5. Braaksma added a run and an RBI. Vander Maten went 2-for-3 with a run for Edgerton. Nibbelink was 1-for-3 with a triple and a run.
R H E
Edgerton 101 000 0 - 2 3 3
Worthington 010 001 1 - 3 3 5
