MOORHEAD — Members of the Moorhead Spuds baseball team didn’t shy away from the fact that morale was quite low in the dugout between games last Thursday.
Not just any pair of games, but the Section 8-4A championship. The Cinderella Spuds, blazing through the tournament as the No. 7 seed, needed just one win to punch their ticket to state for the first time since 1990.
Their opponent, top-seeded St. Michael-Albertville, emerged from the elimination bracket and needed to win twice after having already been upset by the Spuds earlier in the tournament.
Things were looking good for the Spuds in Game 1, taking a three-run lead into the sixth inning.
Suddenly, the Knights’ bats woke up, plating four runs in the top of the frame and ultimately hanging on for a 4-3 win to force a winner-take-all Game 2.
“It was tough, it was a big momentum crash,” said Spuds junior pitcher/outfielder Carson Heinsch. “It gave (STMA) a little bit of a momentum boost.”
Momentum crash for Moorhead, indeed. Although the Spuds knew they were capable, it was in the back of their minds that the magical run could be on the cusp of coming to an end.
“Actually, the mood was pretty awful,” senior pitcher/infielder Drake Kunza said. “So I started telling people, one person at a time, ‘Find a way to just forget it.’ I just took a little walk, grabbed a sandwich and forgot about it. Some people went to the bathroom, some people just walked around and got some water.
“Everyone got their mood back going into that first inning of the second game and it was just uphill from there.”
This time around, the Spuds took a 4-3 lead into the seventh inning of Game 2. Heinsch started on the mound and before Kunza was called upon to close it out over the final two innings.
Kunza fanned two STMA hitters and didn’t allow a hit. With one final out to get, Knights junior Tyler Haring hit a blooper off of Kunza to shallow center field. Moorhead sophomore Taye Reich charged in from center before junior teammate and shortstop Riley Dickhaus made the play.
After that, it was a dogpile of Spuds congregating at the pitcher’s mound. Moorhead had qualified for the state tournament for the first time in 35 years.
“It was pretty sweet,” Dickhaus said. “Saw the ball up, no one else saw it, knew what I had to do and just finished the job.
“(The celebration) was awesome. I mean, these boys worked so hard for this. Each and every one deserved it. We’ve been waiting for this all year.”
Now, No. 6 seed Moorhead (14-10) will face No. 3 Minnetonka (15-9) in the state quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at CHS Field in St. Paul.
“(The message) is to believe that we deserve to be in the state tournament and that we can be a team to beat these teams,” longtime Spuds head coach Greg Salvevold said. “And I think they understand that winning a section championship … business is not done and they’re ready to make an impact at a state high school tournament.”
Winning a section title and qualifying for state seemed to be a far cry away last month. Moorhead dropped six games in a row to open May. After the sixth straight loss, the Spuds carried a record of 4-8, which included just one win against in-state competition.
Since then, Moorhead has gone 10-2 down the stretch. The turnaround can be attributed to several factors.
Spuds senior catcher Owen Tjon said it was a 6-2 win over Andover — which is the No. 2 seed at state — on May 22 that got the ball rolling.
“The switch really flipped when we just kind of realized we have to come together,” Tjon said. “Before, it was kind of people worrying about their stats or batting average or scouts and stuff.
“I’d say the turning point was when we beat St. Cloud and Andover. With Andover being a top team, we realized we could really do something. So then we all put our minds to it, we all helped in our own way and that really boosted us forward.”
“I don’t really know, we just started putting everything together,” senior infielder Austin Schwantz added. “Nothing was really going our way during that losing streak, but we started making plays and hitting the ball better. Ever since then, we’ve just been playing well.”
Senior pitcher Easton Groce said the rotation has been less hesitant to throw hittable pitches to the opposition and trusting those in the field behind them.
“We just emphasized that a lot of the reasons why we were losing was just stuff that wouldn’t go our way,” Groce said. “Like bad hops and stuff like that. We kept sticking to our same routine and I think we really improved on pitchers throwing strikes, making (teams) put the ball in play and trusting the defense.
“Then hitting. Having clutch hitting … two outs or two strikes and putting the ball in play and that’s led to runs being scored.”
Moorhead Spuds baseball player Carter Huotari throws to first base during practice Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at Matson Field in Moorhead as head coach Greg Salvevold looks on.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
One key aspect that has aided in morale is the Spuds’ “Bench Mob,” which has become the player-led cheering section within the Moorhead dugout.
“I’d say the most special thing is that we’re not just a team, we’re a family,” Reich said. “Everybody loves everybody on this team. Nobody counts anybody out, everybody plays a role.
“The bench has a role, the ‘Bench Mob’ is what we like to call them. They played a huge part in the (section championship) and all of the playoff games we played and going into sections. They’ve played a huge role and they’re going to continue to play a huge role.”
Salvevold expanded on the energy the Bench Mob brings to the table.
“They do the starting lineup on the bus on our road trips,” Salvevold said. “Their voice, anywhere you go, they’re talking about just the positive things of this team and being that voice in the dugout. Yelling and screaming and getting everyone up from the moment we step into the field to on the bus. It’s so much fun to see.”
The Moorhead Spuds baseball team warms up before practice on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at Matson Field in Moorhead.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Moorhead is familiar with quarterfinal opponent Minnetonka. The Spuds played the Skippers in the second game of the season on April 18, a 6-4 Minnetonka win.
Minnetonka had a six-game skid of its own to end the regular season before winning four straight postseason contests to claim the Section 2-4A crown.
Following an inspired run as the No. 7 seed in their section, as Moorhead sets out for St. Paul, Spuds players now have full belief they can make a run to the state championship game at Target Field in Minneapolis.
“Job’s not finished,” Dickhaus said. “We know what we’ve got to do. Coming in kind of the underdogs. We’re going to have a lower seed but we don’t care. We’re going to come and compete.
“We definitely have a shot coming into it. These teams are a lot bigger, a lot more pressure on us, but we can do it.”