Chanhassen senior and South Dakota State commit Hunter Even started on the mound for the first time in his career Wednesday night at Round Lake Park in Eden Prairie.
As a three-sport athlete, Even is well-adjusted to the competitive atmosphere of high school sports, especially playing for the Storm, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A according to Let’s Play Baseball.
Even struggled to lock in on the strike zone early, but he helped his cause by driving in three runs in the third inning with a double to the left field wall, the Storm’s final hit of the game as they coasted to the 5-3 victory over Eden Prairie.
Even walked Eden Prairie leadoff batter Kal Lunde on his first four pitches and a wild throw advanced the Eden Prairie senior to third, where he was driven in by Wes Young, just the second batter up.
“I had some first-inning jitters,” Even said. “Eden Prairie’s a tough team, and I know some of their hitters, so I had some butterflies but then I settled in.”
Even's clutch hit helped settled his nerves.
“I came off a rough first inning and it felt good to do something to help myself and knock in some runs,” Even said following the Storm’s first win of the season.
“Not every guy is that kind of winning type player and Hunter (Even) certainly fits that mold,” Chanhassen head coach A.J. Petterson said. “He knows how to win baseball games. Timely hitting is the biggest thing, and he came up huge today.”
The defending big school champion Storm (1-1) opened their 2016 schedule this week facing four teams, three of which are ranked in the top five of the Class 4A preseason poll in No. 3-4A Minnetonka, No. 2-4A Eden Prairie and No. 5-4A Mounds View.
Petterson said his team played well Tuesday in a 6-4 loss to the Skippers where Chanhassen was only missing a timely hit -- like Even’s against Eden Prairie.
“I’ve felt that we’ve played more effective baseball than we did last year this early in the season to be honest,” Petterson said. “They all obviously want to win state again, and things need to fall in place for that to happen, but we certainly have the guys it’s quite a bit different dynamic.”
Wednesday’s win over the Eagles (1-1) provides Chanhassen leverage in Class 4A, Section 2, where the Storm’s run to defend their title will begin, this time with predominately different group.
Even thinks the team’s identity remains the same as that of last year’s team despite losing seven starters to graduation.
“Our philosophy is to minimize the errors and play for the big innings and score as many as we can,” he said.
