Grand Rapids Baseball Soars to Fifth Straight Section 7AAA Title

The Thunderhawks will learn who their state opponent is on Saturday at 9 a.m.

HIBBING, Minn.- A trip to the State Tournament was on the line in Hibbing Wednesday afternoon.

The Grand Rapids baseball team took on the Hermantown Hawks in the Section 7AAA title game.

The Thunderhawks and the Hawks entered the third inning tied 1 to 1.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Thunderhawks broke through scoring seven runs to take an 8 to 1 lead.

Grand Rapids defeated Hermantown 12-2 to claim their fifth consecutive Section 7AAA title.

In the Thunderhawks playoff run, the team has focused on the fundamentals.

“Most people, you hear them call Grand Rapids a hockey town and the kids want to prove that we can play a little bit of baseball up here too.” said Thunderhawks head coach Bill Kinnunen. “We just play one pitch at a time, and we try make the routine plays, we don’t have to do anything special and make huge spectacular plays. If we just make every routine play, we expect to be okay and compete in the game. We just want to be close at the end, that’s why we play so much small ball.”

“Are coach, he says, you got to play small ball. So, all the bunts, all the little plays we make, they start to add up. We go down to the cities, and we play the big teams they’re not ready for it. We play are small ball, we bunt, we run the bases, and it works,” said Thunderhawks infielder Klous Jones.

The Thunderhawks will learn who their state opponent is on Saturday at 9 a.m.