By John Molene

What a run it has been for Park baseball.

The senior-dominated Wolfpack went out in style Wednesday, following up a state runner- up finish last season with a Class AAAA Consolation Championship this year.

Park roasted St. Louis Park 10-0 in five innings in the consolation semifinals, then dropped Sartell-St, Stephen 5-3 in the consolation finals to wrap up a second straight standout season.

That made it 42 wins, two Section 3AAAA titles, a second- place state finish, a state consolation championship and two second-place Suburban East Conference finishes in two seasons. Safe to say, these players set the bar high for future Park teams.

The heart and soul of these two teams will be moving on. Seniors Blake Johnson, Evan Bearth, Jackson Tessman, Josh Hatano, Steven Etten, Micah Runion, Darin Arvin, Noah Janski, Will Smoot, Sam Janski and Brady Strand will be playing in different uniforms in the future.

“Obviously it’s kind of emotional, my baseball career is done, but I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else,” said Micah Runion who ripped a two-run homer in the first inning to jump start Park against Sartell. “The senior class was amazing. We battled through everything.”

In game after game, up and down the lineup, these seniors came through with whatever Park needed to win, whether by pitching, hitting or defense.

“The best thing is they’re good kids,” said Park head coach Dave Darr. “They are wonderful kids and they made it very easy to coach. I couldn’t have asked for a better transition for a group of kids. They worked hard and they did what I asked them to do. I know some of it was different than what they were used to, and I know they were very successful last year, but they adapted and really took off with what we wanted to do.

“Their talent is going to be very hard to replace, that’s true but just the personalities and the people, that’s every year but this is a special group,” Darr added. “These guys have kind of set some expectations in this baseball program last year and this year. These guys that we’re losing were huge contributors to that and last year’s seniors were too. Baseball people in Park should be very proud of them. It’s a good group of kids that set that and know the younger kids growing up have great kids to emulate.”

Of the 10 players who started in the state tournament opener, only junior pitcher Brady Drkula and junior outfielder Elijah Moechnig can return for the Wolfpack next season.

“With our senior class this year we had a lot of returners from last year’s team which helped us a lot with experience coming into this year,” said Jackson Tessman, whose pitching and hitting keyed the win over St. Louis Park. “And we’re hoping with our experience showing the younger kids on our team, the juniors and a couple sophomores, kind of showing them what they need to do to reach this level of baseball.”

The 2022 team finished 20-8, following last season’s 22-8 campaign.

It’s also important to note how this year’s team battled back after a slow start to the season. The Wolfpack opened 0-2 with ugly losses to Hastings and Cretin-Derham Hall in their first two games. Park was still just 3-4 after seven games when things turned around in a wild 17-16 win over Roseville. That game launched the Wolfpack to 17 wins in 21 games, including 4-1 in section play and 2-1 at state.

“This senior class we’ve been playing ball since we were 10 years old,” said Brady Strand. “To think its over it’s hard but there’s nobody else I’d rather do it with.”

Park 5, Sartell-St. Stephen 3 Park jumped on Sartell-St. Stephen for three runs in the bottom of the first thanks mostly to a two-run home run by Micah Runion, added another run in the second and a fifth run in the fourth. The Wolfpack led 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0 and felt in command for most of the game.

Things got a little closer in the late innings. Sartell managed two runs in the fifth and another in the seventh to close to within 5-03, but that’s as close as they got.

Brady Strand pitched twohit baseball for five innings before being relieved in the sixth. Strand allowed two runs on two hits, but neither run was earned. He struck out three and walked five.

Evan Bearth pitched 1-hit ball in the sixth, followed by Josh Hatano who came in relief to close out the game in the seventh.

Park’s batters hit the long ball all game, with Blake Johnson socking two doubles, while Josh Hatano, Jackson Tessman and Brady Drkula each had one double. Numerous other Park batters drove Sartell outfielders to the fence before the ball stopped flying.

Sam Janski singled and scored on Tessman’s double to open the scoring in the bottom of the first. Smoot reached on a fielder’s choice. Runion then socked a homer to give Park a 3-0 lead.

Park went up 4-0 on doubles by Brady Drkula and Hatano in the second. Johnson doubled with one out in the fourth, went to third on a wild pitch then scored on an error by the catcher for a 5-0 Park lead.

Sartell closed to 5-2 in top of the fifth, and then made Park a little uncomfortable in the seventh. The Sabres put runners on first and second with a walk and a single, then saw the runners advance to second and third on a throwing error by catcher Smoot. Facing the tying run at the plate, Park relief pitcher Hatano got the third out by sending a third strike past the Sartell batter.

Park 10, St. Louis Park 0

Jackson Tessman twirled a 1-hit gem of a shutout and the Park Wolfpack rolled past fifth-seeded St. Louis Park 10-0 in the consolation semifinals Wednesday morning.

The Wolfpack blasted out an eight-run third inning to take command of the game and St. Louis Park (19-9) never could get their bats going at Parade Park in Minneapolis.

“I think we just came out with a little more anger from yesterday,” said Tessman. “Our bats were really hot. We haven’t been hitting good recently. It seemed like everyone was barreling every single pitch they saw. Anything that was a strike was put into the outfield.”

Tessman allowed just one hit, a single in the bottom of the fourth. He struck out nine, while walking three. Just six St. Louis Park batters reached base and none got farther than second.

Tessman’s stuff was especially working in the second and third innings where he got four batters to strike out swinging and the other two to strike out looking.

In the fourth, where the first two St. Louis Park batters reached on a walk and a single, the Wolfpack promptly turned a double play to ease any threat. Tessman then got the next batter to fly out to end the inning.

Park’s hitters, meanwhile, feasted on St. Louis Park pitching. Tessman again led the way here, going 3-for-4 with a two-run double and three RBIs overall. Will Smoot was 2-for-4 with a two-run triple, also in the top of the third, and three RBIs. Josh Hatano, Sam Janski, Micah Runion and Brady Strand all drove in runs.

Farmington 3, Park 2

Top-seeded Farmington broke Park baseball hearts in 2021 and did so again Tuesday. June 14, rallying for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 3-2 victory in the state quarterfinals.

It was the second straight season that Farmington had topped Park in the state tournament. Last June the Tigers won the Class AAAA state championship in a wild 12-10 slugfest.

“All year long we’ve told them if you come out and play the game to the best of your abilities, you have nothing to be ashamed of if you don’t win,” said coach Darr. “Because that’s all you can do is do your best, and we did that. We came out, yea, we would have liked to hit it better, but we hit the ball hard at times. They didn’t necessarily hit the ball harder or better than us, a couple of bloops, but that’s baseball.

“That was a great ball game against a great team, two great teams,” Darr continued. “And somebody had to lose and unfortunately it was us. There’s not a whole lot to say except it’s no fun., but that happens.”

In other quarterfinal games, fourth-seeded Maple Grove defeated fifth-seeded St. Louis Park 5-2, second-seeded Stillwater edged Sartell 6-5 and unseeded Chanhassen clobbered third-seeded Andover 14-0.

On Tuesday, Park (18-8) jumped out to a 2-0 lead as designated hitter Micah Runion drove in two runs on a single in the top of the first inning at CHS Field in St. Paul. Farmington later closed the gap to 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the second. That’s where the score stood until the bottom of the sixth.

Farmington (22-3) sewed together four hits and a walk in the sixth inning to grab the lead. Park starter Brady Drkula gave up a double and a single before yielding to relief pitcher Jackson Tessman. Farmington tied the game at 2-all on a single by Conrad to right field. With two out, Farmington then scored the game winner on a single to left by leadoff batter Mason Conrad.

Park couldn’t rally in the top of the seventh, with three batters making three quick outs.

The tough loss sent the Wolfpack into the consolation round.

Park managed just four hits off Farmington pitcher Zachary Dohrmann.

Runion was 1-for-2 with both Park RBIs. Josh Hatano went 1-for-3, Sam Janski was 1-for-2 and scored a run, Jackson Tessman was 1-for-3 and scored a run.

Brady Drkula got the start and went five and a third innings, giving up six hits, two runs, two earned runs, a walk and struck out six. Tessman pitched top two batters in the sixth and gave up two hits and the game-winning run.

In the first inning with one out Janski singled to center field to get things going for the Wolfpack. Tessman followed with a single to right and Janski advanced to second. Will Smoot struck out swinging, while Tessman advanced to second and Janski to third on a wild pitch. Runion then singled to right field to score both Tessman and Janski.

Suburban East Conference rival Stillwater went on to win the Class AAAA title with an 8-1 win over Farmington.

Wolfpack players have many fond memories to look back on the last two seasons, but perhaps the ones which resonates most vividly are the two wins in the section finals.

“This year I’ve got to say the section championship really stands out to me,” said Brady Strand. “Losing that first game and Rosemount had momentum but we came back stronger and got away with a win.”

They did that a lot these last two years — come back stronger and win.

Members of the 2022 Park High School baseball team pose for a team photo after winning the Class AAA consolation championship Wednesday at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis. Photo by John Molene

Park senior pitcher Jackson Tessman threw a 1-hit gem against St. Louis Park in the consolation semifinals Wednesday morning. Photo by John Molene

Park senior catcher Will Smoot tags out a Sartell base runner at the plate in the top of the fourth inning. Photo by John Molene

Park senior Micah Runion ripped a two-run homer in the first inning against Sartell to give the Wolfpack a quick 3-0 lead. Photo by John Molene