File photo by Ali Selby Hanska Lakers’ Sam Knowles pitches during a game against Springfield in the Region 2C amateur baseball tournament on Aug. 9 at Eagles Park in Sleepy Eye.
HANSKA — The Hanska Lakers are ready to return to the Class C Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament after finishing 10-6 in the regular season and third in the Region 2C Amateur Baseball Playoffs.
Hanska had missed the tournament the past two years after competing in the state tournament in 2020 and 2021. With star player Chris Knowles sidelined with a shoulder injury early in the season, many thought Hanska would miss this season as well, but the Lakers kept fighting and finished as one of the top four teams in Region 2C.
“It’s a very tenacious team,” Hanska coach Chris Koob said. “We lost our best player to injury. He played four games and then had to have surgery. Then one of our best players who’d been in the lineup for 10 years retired and the other came back to St. James when the team got going again. It’s just tenacity. It would have been easy to say, ‘Just one more year,’ but they really stepped up. They really struggled with hitting in the first half of the year, but our young guys persevered and they improved and now they’re in the state tournament.”
Koob said the team learned to rely on experience from the Region 2C tournament, with the younger players learning from the veterans.
“I think the biggest thing is the experience with the younger guys,” he said. “We’re a mixed team, half of our lineup are veterans and the other half are rookies. All it takes is winning big games in the regional tournament. In amateur baseball, regional tournaments and regular season games are very different. The veterans step up a little bit with each team. So once the younger guys get the experience of winning big regional games, they’ll know what it takes. And then hopefully that translates into the state tournament and that’s the next step to winning there.”
Leading the team’s batting lineup this year is Kevin Larson, who is the top hitter with a .310 batting average, one home run, a .925 OPS, and a team-high 16 RBIs. Sam Knowles is the team leader with a .375 batting average, a .909 OPS, and 11 RBIs. Tanner Olson is the No. 4 hitter in the lineup with a .234 batting average, one home run, nine RBIs, and four doubles.
Hanska will face off against the Waconia Lakers in the first round of the tournament. The two teams with the same name will meet on the Green Isle on Friday at 7:30 pm. Waconia is a familiar name in the state tournament and will be a tough opponent for Hanska.
“They have a really tough left-handed pitcher that I’m sure will come out and pitch in our first game against us,” Koob said. “Probably one of the better pitchers in the state. They’re from District 7, which is probably the toughest area in the state. They’re a very experienced team with real experience. As I tell our players, some people might say this is a bad matchup, but we’re going to be the worse opponent.”
Hanska will have to rely on its top two pitchers, Sam Knowles and Aaron Portner, to limit Waconia’s runs. Luckily, these two have been Hanska’s winning secrets all season, with all three of Hanska’s wins in the Region 2C playoffs coming with these two on the mound.
“Aaron’s a big, tall lefty,” Koob said, “and he comes at them from a different angle and relies a little more on his change of speed, especially with his fastball, and he’s got a lot of movement. He really sees the hitter. Sam’s a right-handed, tall right-hander, but he throws with a lower arm angle than Aaron. He relies on all his pitches and throws them with a little more velocity.”[city] More than Aaron. It just looks a little bit different. They throw it a different way.”
Sam Knowles is 5-3 with 42 strikeouts, a 3.58 ERA and one save in 65 1/3 innings pitched this season, while Portner is 5-1 with three saves, 47 strikeouts and a 2.35 ERA in 53 2/3 innings pitched.
To win against Waconia, Koob said the team will need to minimize mistakes while capitalizing on offensive opportunities.
“When you go to the state tournament, for every team, whether they’re a favorite or not, it’s all about execution,” Koob said. “You’ve got to execute on the field and make timely hits. If you do those things in a single-elimination tournament, the team that does it is going to win. When you’re playing against a veteran team with high expectations, I think the most important thing is to put pressure on them. Play on the field, dominate them early and make them a little nervous.”
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