With renewed focus and an obvious horse of a starting pitcher, a Mounds View  team that lost five of its first seven games showed that it’s not where you’ve been but where you’re going that matters most.

The Mustangs rode the left arm of 6-foot-7 starting pitcher Sam Hentges and played nearly mistake-free baseball en route to a 9-0 victory over Eden Prairie on Tuesday in the Class 3A championship game at Target Field. Mounds View (21-6) won its second consecutive state championship.

“This is a pretty great feeling,” junior catcher Wyatt Meyer said. “We turned our season around and started making plays. And we always feel very confident when Sam is on the mound.”

Hentges, the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year and a fourth-round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians, benefitted from weather that postponed the championship game on Saturday and again on Monday. He pitched a shutout in Thursday’s quarterfinal victory over Elk River and the delay allowed him to take the mound on four days rest.

“I would have started yesterday if we had played, but having an extra day was nice,” he said. “But even if I’d had to pitch sooner, I was confident. I’ve got the best defense in the state backing me up.”

Hentges helped stake himself to an early lead, doubling off the right-centerfield wall in the bottom of the first inning. His courtesy runner, Joe Janey, came around to score the game’s first run on Charlie Callahan’s triple.

The 1-0 lead proved all that Hentges would need. Mixing up a 90-plus m.p.h. fastball with a curveball that was finding the corners, he kept Eden Prairie off-balance all game. The Eagles (20-7) had base-runners in each of the first five innings, but Hentges, despite walking three batters, worked out of trouble each time. He finished with a five-hitter, striking out eight.

“It’s always nice to pitch with a cushion,” Hentges said. “Having that one run makes things just a little bit easier.”

Save for the first-inning run, Eden Prairie starter Corey Binger matched Hentges through five innings but ran out of gas in the bottom of the sixth. Mounds View’s first five batters reached base and all came around to score. By the end of the inning, the Mustangs’ slim lead had ballooned to a 9-0 advantage on six hits, two walks, two errors and a sacrifice fly.

“Corey had a fantastic game,” Eden Prairie coach John Buteyn said. “But we ran into a very good team with a very good pitcher.”

Hentges credited a meeting convened when the team was struggling earlier this year for the Mustangs’ turnaround.

“We all came together, players and coaches, and talked about what we needed to do and the adjustments we needed to make,” he said. “Since then, we’ve won 18 out of 19. Coming from where we were, it feels awesome to do this in my final high school game. And two championships are always better than one.”

First report

At 6-foot-7, Mounds View’s Sam Hentges is certainly big enough to shoulder a large load. The big southpaw toyed with Eden Prairie’s offense, holding the normally potent Eagles to just five base hits to lead Mounds View to its second consecutive Class 3A championship with a 9-0 victory.

Hentges even contributed to the game’s only run through the first five innings with a two-out double to the wall in the bottom of the first inning that led to a 1- 0 Mounds View lead.

Mounds View’s bats came alive in the bottom of the sixth as the Mustangs scored eight runs. The only question left was whether Hentges would pick up his second shutout of the tournament. He did, finishing with eight strikeouts and three walks.

Check back later for more on the game. 


Photo gallery: Class 3A state baseball championship