The Cannon Falls Bomber baseball team started its season by splitting a pair of games last Monday and Tuesday, March 30 and 31, against the Pine Island Panthers and Triton Cobras. The Bombers traveled to Pine Island for their season opener and lost 11-4 after trailing 5-3 through four innings. Cannon Falls was able to bounce back the next day with a 13-4 home blowout of the Triton Cobras to get back to .500 at 1-1. The busy first week was made a little less so after the Bombers’ third game scheduled for Thursday, April 2, at Maple River was postponed until April 25.
Pine Island separated with a seven-run bottom of the sixth but head coach Bucky Lindow said it was the Bombers’ defensive play and ability to throw strikes that caused problems for his team. Cannon Falls used five different pitchers in the loss – Ryan Hjellming, Rylan Berg, Brekken Baird, Evan Miller and Jacob Kiffmeyer – and the first four runs given up were all unearned. Micah Nelson, Cole Rapp and Tyler Meyers all drove in runs for the Cannon Falls offense and Rapp and Hjellming both had two hits apiece.
It appeared the Bombers’ struggles might continue against Triton when the Cobras scored four runs in the top of the first inning, two of which were unearned. However, Cannon Falls responded by scoring runs in each of the first five innings.
Tyler Meyers and Grady Meyers each had RBI-singles in the bottom of the first inning as the Bombers cut the deficit to 4-2. Micah Nelson scored on an error in the second inning and three batters later, Hjellming launched a home run over the little green monster in left field to make it 6-4 Cannon Falls. Nelson added a 2 RBI-double in the third inning to make it 8-4 and Rapp had an RBI-double in the fourth to extend the Bombers’ lead to 9-4. Tyler Meyers drove in Brekken Baird and Nelson in the bottom of the fifth with a double and then Hjellming hit his second home run of the game, this time a 2-run, opposite-field home run to right center for a 13-4 lead.
Hjellming said the message after the loss to Pine Island was about energy.
“We were in the game 5-3 going into the sixth (against Pine Island), but we were kind of down, so just bringing the juice like our saying is and just staying up the whole game,” said Hjellming. “We did that today after like the second or third inning. Just bring the energy and stay up the entire game no matter what happens.”
Senior Abram Tennessen started on the mound for Cannon Falls and earned the win against Triton after pitching 3 innings where he allowed 4 runs — just 2 earned — on 3 hits, a pair of walks and a hit batter with 5 strikeouts. Alec Hamilton / Cannon Falls Beacon
Abram Tennessen started on the mound for the Bombers against the Cobras and earned the win after he threw three innings and allowed four runs (just two earned) on three hits, a pair of walks and a hit batter with five strikeouts. He was relieved by Breck Rustad who pitched two scoreless innings where he allowed two walks and struck out one batter. Tyler Meyers threw the final two innings and gave up a walk and a hit with a trio of punchouts.
Tyler Meyers and Hjellming powered the Cannon Falls offense with three hits each. Meyers drove in three runs while Hjellming had five RBIs from his pair of home runs. Nelson had two hits, a pair of RBIs and scored three times. Fourteen different Bombers got at-bats in the win.
Cannon Falls hosts Stewartville on Monday, April 6, after the writing of this article and then welcomes Rochester Lourdes to John Burch Park on Tuesday. They play five more home games the following week: Monday, April 13, against Lake City; Thursday, April 16 versus Zumbrota-Mazeppa; and a home tournament that Friday and Saturday against St. Anthony Village, Minneapolis Southwest and Minneapolis Washburn.