Becker’s 10AAA baseball team played in the Gopher State Baseball-MYAS (Minnesota Youth Athletic Services) sanctioned Brainerd Lakes Classic 10AAA baseball tournament last weekend.
The Bulldogs went 4-1 in the tournament and captured the first place championship!
Becker 9, Anoka 8
In the first game of the tournament versus the Anoka Tornadoes Friday, it was a great back-and-forth type of game.
By the time the sixth inning arrived (final inning), the Bulldogs found themselves down by one run at 8-7. They rallied to tie the game then loaded the bases with two outs.
That’s when the heroics emerged.
Kellan Graning (son of the head coach) came to the plate with the type of situation just about every boy dreams of when playing ball in the driveway. A tie game, two outs, bottom of the last inning.
And Graning came through, crushing a line drive to the outfield for the walk-off game winning hit.
Coach Eric Graning said it just so happened to be Kellan’s birthday weekend, so “he gave himself a birthday present with the huge hit to win the game.”
Andover 9, Becker 7
In Becker’s only game Saturday to determine seeding, the Bulldogs found themselves down to Andover 9-2 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Bulldogs rallied for five runs, but their comeback came up short by two runs.
With the 1-1 record, Becker was seeded the fourth team out of 10 going into bracket play Sunday.
Becker 5, Sauk Rapids 0
Becker’s first game of the day was a superb defensive effort and a shutout win over Sauk Rapids. Brayden Graning (assistant coaches’ son) and Sawyer Anderson combined for the fantastic pitching effort and a six-inning shutout.
Becker 11, Princeton 1
Game two on Sunday was against a strong rival in the Princeton Tigers. This was Becker’s fourth game against them this year and the Bulldogs held a 2-1 win/loss record over the Tigers heading into the game. Each of the previous three games during the season were decided by two runs or less.
That didn’t faze the red hot Bulldogs as they put together a great game and trounced Princeton in five innings.
Ethan Guck, Reid McCalla, Jase Tobako and Brayden Graning combined for 14 hits and seven stolen bases to lead the offense.
Becker 8, East Ridge 3
The championship game Sunday was against a great East Ridge team from Apple Valley — seeded #1 overall.
Becker dominated from the get-go and cruised to a five-run win.
Coach Graning credited Aiden Holm, Grayson Kipka, Mason Nevala, Dylan Weber and Josh Groskreutz in playing great defense in this game. Groskreutz hit a huge, three-run home run (his first-ever home run over the fence) to extend the lead from 5-3 to 8-3 in the fourth inning.
Kellan Graning came in to pitch the last inning and closed down a powerful East Ridge team that had scored a combined 34 runs in their first three games of the tournament.
This tournament win qualifies Becker for the prestigious Gopher State Baseball Tournament of Champions in Plymouth, July 15-17.
