East Ridge coach Brian Sprout knows Midway Stadium's diamond pretty well. Not only has he coached the Raptors at Midway Stadium, but he's played as games a professional there, too.
Sprout played three seasons for the St. Paul Saints, a minor league team that plays its home games at Midway.
“It’s always an interesting place to come to for our team,” Sprout said after the Raptors beat Woodbury 6-5 in the Class 3A, Section 4 loser’s bracket final at Midway Stadium on Monday afternoon. “To be successful here, that’s big for me, because we play a lot of big games here."
Raptors starting pitcher Drew Molin has experience at Midway Stadium, but not like his coach. Molin, a senior, was on the team last year when East Ridge lost 6-0 to Stillwater in the Class 3A, Section 4 loser's bracket quarterfinal.
East Ridge has been spending a lot of time at Midway lately -- with more to come. The Raptors' winner's bracket final game on Saturday against Mahtomedi was suspended in the fourth inning because of rain. The game was completed on Monday, and Mahtomedi's win dropped East Ridge into the loser's bracket matchup with Woodbury directly after. The Raptors earned a rematch against Mahtomedi in Tuesday's championship with their win over the Royals.
East Ridge has a 3-1 record, with a combined score of 25-18 in its four section playoff games.
“We’ve been playing well here this yearm and I think it will continue into tomorrow,” Molin said.
One player who is at polar opposites from Sprout and Molin is outfielder Sam Kastner. The junior wasn’t on the roster last season. With trains passing by him just a couple hundred feet from the stadium, Kastner said he’s enjoying playing in the venue.
“It’s just kind of nice being at the bigger ballpark,” Kastner said. “Everyone is out here having fun and a good time, it’s a good atmosphere. We have fans here and everyone is here to play. We have a good turnout and everyone is just pumped to play at this field at all times.”
The Raptors will be gunning for their first state tournament bid in program history Tuesday against Mahtomedi. The will have to beat the Zephyrs twice to advance out of the double-elimination tournament.
“They’re teenagers,” Sprout said. “We’ll see what happens when we show up and work out. They’re good and they work hard, they came focused today.”
Molin, who threw 6 2/3 innings, giving up four runs, striking out five and walking one, said he confident the Raptors can avenge their loss to the Zephyrs.
“They got a pretty good pitcher going, and so do we,” Molin said. “I think it’s going to be a low scoring game, but I think we’re going to pull it out.”
