The Baltic 14U baseball team put themselves one win away from the state tournament after an 8-7 win over Salem in the semifinals of the Region 3B Tournament in Garretson on Tuesday, July 11th.
Baltic was able to build an early lead and then hold off Salem for the win. AJ Grunewaldt was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Aiden Peters had an RBI ground out, and Gavin Skotvold scored on a passed ball to put Baltic in front 3-0 after the first inning. Luke Petersen scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning to increase the lead to 4-0.
Salem tied the game, 4-4, after scoring three runs in the bottom of the third inning and a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Baltic broke the tie in the top of the fifth inning with three runs, which included an RBI single by Cale Roach. After Salem scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 7-5, Jackson Goehring had an RBI triple in the sixth to push the lead to 8-5. Salem rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth with no outs, but Peters got three outs in a row to stop the rally.
Roach had two hits and an RBI. Goehring had a triple and an RBI. Skotvold finished with a single. Peters had two RBIs, and Grunewaldt had an RBI. Grunewaldt pitched three innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on two hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Skotvold pitched two innings and allowed three runs, one earned, on four walks and four strikeouts. Peters pitched an inning and recorded two strikeouts. B Berg also pitched an inning and had one walk and two strikeouts.
