Grand Rapids Baseball Off to Third Straight State Tournament Appearance after Electric Section Championship Win

Grand Rapids draws two seeded St. Thomas Academy in the first round. That game is set for 10 am on Tuesday at Mini Met Ballpark.

GRAND RAPIDS, Min.- On Wednesday the Grand Rapids baseball team suited up and took the field at a shot for a Section 7AAA title, but it wouldn’t be easy.

The Thunderhawks would have to knock off the top seeded Hermantown Hawks in not one game, but two. Rapids picked up the 8-6 win in Game One to force a Game Two.

After three straight singles in the bottom of the eighth, senior Kyle Henke called game with a walk-off grand slam, sending his team to States for the third straight season.

“I think I watched a curve ball over the plate for the first strike. Then swung pretty hard at that second fast ball and swung through it and I thought he was going to throw me an off speed but I think he was trying to throw me a high fastball but he just kind of left it over the plate and I was choked up on the bat and got the barrel around to it and hit it pretty well,” says Henke.

Those wins showed just how much grit this Grand Rapids team has. Something that was no surprise for 22 year head coach Bill Kinnunen, who says his team is battle tested.

“They play one pitch at a time and play to the last out. That’s why baseball’s a great game, there’s no time clock, they have to throw it through the strike zone and give us our last chance to hit and luckily we batted last this time but this team has always persevered and played to the last out of the game. So we knew coming in that these guys could handle pressure,” says Kinnunen.

“All my three years on the team we’ve gone back to back to back now so it’ll be really cool to get back down there and compete against the best teams. I don’t think we should be overlooked by anyone and we play to the last out and we’re going to give it our all,” says Henke.

Grand Rapids draws two seeded St. Thomas Academy in the first round. That game is set for 10 am on Tuesday at Mini Met Ballpark.