GRANITE FALLS — There was a lot of bright sunshine, a complete-game gem from starting pitcher Aleks Hansen and, in the end, another Cascade Conference championship.
All in all, a very good day for the Archbishop Murphy baseball team.
The Wildcats pushed across one run in the second inning, two more in the fourth, and then broke the game open with a five-run sixth on the way to an 8-1 victory over host Granite Falls on Monday afternoon. The outcome, which improves Archbishop Murphy’s league record to 14-1, gives the Wildcats their seventh league title in eight seasons under coach Stan Taloff.
“I haven’t swung a bat yet,” Taloff said with a smile, “so I have to give the credit to the guys.”
Against Granite Falls, he added, “they came out and did what they needed to do. … They tried to accomplish winning every inning. You don’t always do that in baseball, but that’s part of our goal.”
Archbishop Murphy totaled eight hits, all singles, and also took advantage of three walks, a hit batter and three Tiger errors. Leading 3-0 after five innings, the Wildcats batted around in the sixth by combining four hits, a walk, a run-scoring wild pitch and two Granite Falls errors to increase the margin to 8-0.
Right fielder Austin Earl led the way for the Wildcats, reaching base in all three plate appearances — a walk, an error and a single — and scoring each time.
All that offense was more than enough for Hansen, a junior right-hander who scattered four hits while striking out seven with two walks. He faced the minimum in four of seven innings — his teammates certainly helped, turning two double plays in those four innings — and was never in serious trouble.
Granite Falls scored its only run in the sixth on a leadoff double to straightaway center field by Ryan Elvrom, a foulout to right field that allowed Elvrom to tag and reach third, and an infield out.
“(Hansen’s) velocity has increased this year,” Taloff said. “He’s got a good lively fastball (in the mid- to upper 80s mph) that runs a little bit and a good sharp curveball. As long as he’s throwing strikes, he’s going to have a good day.”
“Hansen pitched well,” agreed Tigers coach Doug Engstrom. “He did a nice job. He had more velocity than what we’ve seen. And I think that was the difference in the game.”
With the league championship already in hand, Archbishop Murphy will close out its regular season and then turn its attention to the postseason, beginning with the district tournament. Taloff has taken lots of teams to the playoffs in his long coaching career, and he has a good feeling about this group of Wildcats.
“This team has the potential to go all the way (to a state championship),” he said. “But baseball is so fickle that you just never know what could happen along the way. It could be one good (opposing) pitcher, it could be bad game, it could be a lot of things. And then you need to win every single game of your last four.
“But they have the talent, and it’s a great bunch of guys that support each other. They’re not rah-rah, but they’re serious about the game of baseball.”
As for the Tigers, Engstrom expects better days ahead.
“They’re working hard, and that’s the best thing in the world for me,” he said. “It’s an awesome group to coach. We just have to put together good games to compete with good teams. But it’s a new day when districts come.”
Arch. Murphy 8, Granite Falls 1
At Granite Falls H.S.
WP:Aleks Hansen (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 7 K, 2 BB) LP:Jordan Heppner. Individual highlights: Archbishop Murphy—A.J. Koch (1-3, 2 RBI), Austin Earl (1-3, 3 R), Houston Schmutz (2-3, 2 RBI, 1 R); Granite Falls—Ryan Elvrom (1-3, 2B, 1 R), Cameron Loesche (2-3). Records—Archbishop Murphy 14-1 league, 15-2 overall; Granite Falls 10-5, 11-7.
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