The Minnehaha Academy baseball team’s motto for this season is predictable considering how last season ended for the Redhawks. 

 

“Our motto for the year is unfinished business,” senior Grant Steinkopf said after the Redhawks edged Academy of Holy Angels 8-6 on Thursday in both teams’ season opener. 

 

“We know it feels good, so we’re trying to get there again,” Steinkopf added. 

 

“There” refers to the Class 2A state title game, where the Redhawks ran into a buzzsaw in St. Cloud Cathedral, falling to the unbeaten Crusaders 10-1. 

 

Steinkopf has started the season doing his part to help Minnehaha Academy, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A by Let's Play Baseball, repeat last year’s success. He drove in two runs in Thursday's game as the designated hitter, a new role he’s been asked to play this season. 

 

“Last year I pinch-hit all year,” Steinkopf said. “So at least I’m in for three at-bats instead of one."

 

Playing a key role isn’t foreign territory for senior pitcher Jesse Retzlaff, who went 6-1 last season and notched 48 strikeouts in 37 innings pitched. 

 

Retzlaff said that the Redhawks (1-0) have a strong nucleus of experienced players back in the dugout that helped make a run at state last season.

 

“We returned the four seniors, and a lot of juniors who can step up this year,” Retzlaff said. 

 

Retzlaff stepped up several times in the win over the No. 8-3A Stars (0-1), striking out batters in back-to-back innings after Holy Angels had loaded the bases. 

 

“He likes to be agressive,” Redhawks coach Scott Glenn said. “He tries to go right at the hitters, and I think he did a good job doing that.”

 

Senior pitcher Shannon Ahern went three-for-five and drove in five runs for the Stars, who threatened to send the game into extra innings with a three-run seventh.

 

The play on the field was at the mercy of the weather (low 40s with a cold, steady drizzle) for much of the game, resulting in some miscues by both teams

 

“We’ve kind of developed a little rivalry over the last few years,” Glenn said of the relationship between the Redhawks and Stars. 

 

“Any time you can beat a team like that on a day like this to start off the season, it’s great.”

Senior pitcher Jesse Retzlaff picked up the win on the mound and recorded two hits and two runs batted in as Minnehaha Academy held off Academy of Holy Angels 8-6 on Thursday afternoon at Neiman Field in Minneapolis. 

 

Senior designated hitter Grant Steinkopf pounded a double to left field in the second inning that also drove in two runs for the Redhawks (1-0), ranked No. 2 in Class 2A by Let's Play Baseball.

 

Minnehaha Academy scored five runs in the first and three in the second to build an early cushion for Retzlaff, who was relieved in the fourth inning by senior pitcher Alexander Fedje-Johnson.

 

The No. 8-3A Stars (0-1) scored three unearned runs off Retzlaff in the top of the fourth, and added three more earned runs in the top of the seventh with Fedje-Johnson pitching. Holy Angels was led by senior pitcher/outfielder Shannon Ahern’s five RBI.