EAST GRAND FORKS – After a 5-4 win over the Moorhead Blues on Thursday, the Alexandria Zimny Insurance Post 87 baseball team needed a win against the Bemidji Centaurs on Friday in East Grand Forks to lock up a spot in the 2025 Minnesota American Legion Senior Division I State Tournament.
And thanks to a 4-run bottom of the fifth inning, Post 87 punched its ticket to the state tournament and advanced to the sub-state 12 championship, defeating Bemidji 4-2.
The top two finishers in the sub-state 12 tournament advance to the state tournament.
East Grand Forks Post 157 defeated Alexandria Post 87 4-2 in the sub-state 12 championship game on Saturday.
In Friday’s game against Bemidji, Griffin Wimmer put Alexandria on the board to start the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single. Sam Anderson then knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice to put Alexandria up 2-0. A Nolan Johnson 2-RBI single pushed Alexandria’s lead to 4-0 heading to the sixth inning.
Bemidji put up two runs in the top of the sixth inning on an Alexandria error and a sacrifice fly, but Alexandria held on to win 4-2. Wimmer earned the win on the mound for Post 87, striking out two batters and allowing only three hits and four walks in seven innings pitched.
In Saturday’s sub-state championship game, Alexandria Post 87 jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to an Anderson RBI single and an Evan Zabel sacrifice fly.
EGF Post 157 chipped away at its deficit in the top of the third inning with a Noah Frize RBI triple.
A Jordan Nowacki RBI single in the top of the fifth inning tied the game 2-2. A Frize sacrifice bunt gave EGF a 3-2 lead later in the inning. Parker Erickson knocked in an insurance run for EGF with an RBI single to give EGF a 4-2 lead heading to the sixth inning.
Alexandria enters the senior legion state tournament with a 26-8 record.
The 2025 Minnesota American Legion Senior Division I State Tournament runs from July 31-Aug. 3 at St. Michael-Albertville.
Alexandria Post 87 second baseman Easton Klimek throws the ball from second base to first base in a game against Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on June 30, 2025, at Knute Nelson Memorial Park in Alexandria. Post 87 is set to compete in the Minnesota American Legion Senior Division I State Tournament on July 31-Aug. 3, 2025, in St. Michael-Albertville.
Sam Stuve / Alexandria Echo Press
Bemidji Centaurs – 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 – 2 3 2
Alexandria Post 87 – 0 0 0 0 4 0 X – 4 9 3
ALEXANDRIA POST 87 PITCHING – Griffin Wimmer – W – 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO
ALEXANDRIA POST 87 OFFENSE – Jackson Waltzing – 2/4, R; Connor Anderson – 1/4, R; Griffin Wimmer – 1/4, R, RBI; Sam Anderson – 1/3, RBI; Nolan Johnson – 2/3, 2 RBI; Evan Zabel – 1/3; Landon Gess-Norling – 0/3; Zach Iverson – 0/3; Nolan Fettig – 1/2, R, BB
EGF Post 157 – 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 – 4 5 2
Alexandria Post 87 – 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 7 1
ALEXANDRIA POST 87 PITCHING – Landon Gess-Norling – 7 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
ALEXANDRIA POST 87 OFFENSE – Jackson Waltzing – 1/4; Nolan Johnson – 0/2, R, HBP; Griffin Wimmer – 3/4, R; Sam Anderson – 2/3, RBI, BB; Evan Zabel – 0/4, RBI, SB; Landon Gess-Norling – 0/3; Easton Klimek – 0/3; Zach Iverson – 0/3; Nolan Fettig – 1/3
Sam Stuve covers a variety of sports in the Douglas County area. Sam is a December 2021 graduate from Iowa State University. Sam joined the Echo Press in January 2022 and became the Sports and Outdoors Editor in February 2023.