Tyler Safgren needed only one week to transition from hockey to baseball. 

A forward on the Eden Prairie hockey team that finished fourth at this year’s Class 2A state tournament, Safgren played his last game in an Eagles’ sweater March 7 and had only nine days to prepare for the start of the baseball season.

And in the season opener on the diamond, Eden Prairie’s senior catcher showed no ill effects of the physically taxing winter sports season.

Safgren calmly whacked a pitch to left-center field, knocking in the game-winning run in Friday night’s thrilling 5-4 victory over Prior Lake in a nonconference game at Round Lake Stadium in Eden Prairie. 

Safgren’s mental makeup is key to his athletic success, Eagles coach John Buteyn said following the game.

Safgren plays with a level head and avoids anything that could shake his focus during a game, Buteyn added.

“He’s mentally tough enough where he’s not affected by expectations or what another team is doing,” Buteyn said.

It’s a characteristic that helped Safgren earn playing time in 29 games for the Eagles this winter. He finished the season with 10 assists and 13 points.

It’s also a reason why he was on the varsity roster last spring, helping Eden Prairie advance to championship game of the Class 3A state baseball tournament. The Eagles finished second after falling to Mounds View 9-0.

Against the Lakers, the winning run was Safgren’s third RBI of the game and capped a come-from-behind win that was spurred by junior outfielder Kal Lunde’s hustle on the basepaths. 

Lunde reached base when his grounder to third was fielded by Prior Lake but the resulting throw sailed passed the Lakers’ first baseman. The error also allowed Eden Prairie to score the tying run and earned Lunde an RBI. Lunde then scored the winning run on Safgren’s hit. 

“I’m always taught that when you put the ball on the ground, you hustle it out,” Lunde said. 

Safgren’s performance at the plate offered little consolation after a shaky start behind it.

He continually blocked wind-altered pitches from Eagles starting pitcher Charlie Sheehan, and the Lakers scored their first run on a ball that got by Safgren. 

“Charlie was throwing fastballs with a lot of tail today,” Safgren said. “With the wind, it was kind of tough.”

Buteyn said that even in those instances, Safgren and the Eagles never let their attitudes turn for the worse. 

“We had a couple of opportunities where we could’ve gotten down,” Buetyn said. “But the guys stayed with it.”

Staying with it could be a key to the Eden Prairie’s season, one the Eagles started by looking to replace loss of 14 seniors.

It’s a process that has some benefits, Safgren said.

Seven of those graduated players moved on to compete for college teams, a fact not lost on Safgren. 

“The first thing you do is learn from them,” he said. “I learned a lot from (Jack) Claeys, the catcher at Northwestern (Ill.) now.”

Safgren also said that the younger players on the team - along with this season’s seniors - are prepared to carry the torch. 

“Knowing that it’s our time to step up and do our job, we’ll be good,” Safgren said. 

Senior catcher Tyler Safgren knocked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Eden Prairie a 5-4 victory over Prior Lake on Friday night at Round Lake Stadium in Eden Prairie.

Junior outfielder Kal Lunde earned an RBI when a Prior Lake throwing error in the bottom of the seventh allowed the Eagles to tie the game 4-4.

Safgren finished with three RBIs and senior outfielder Ryan Christensen hit a home run for the Eagles (1-0).

Junior shortstop Nick Hanson drove in two runs and junior first baseman Jason Peter had an RBI for the Lakers (1-2).

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