The Ponies and Mustangs are surely familiar foes being in the same conference. However, the venue was not quite as familiar. The two teams met across the border as the River Falls ballpark featured turf as opposed to the grass field in Stillwater. 

While both teams have had success in recent years, Stillwater has been one of the best programs in the state and captured the Class 4A state title in 2022 in the team’s fourth consecutive state tournament appearance. However, the Ponies struggled against Mounds View in 2022 as the Mustangs took both meetings. 

Looking to win again, Mounds View came out swinging in the first inning. After the first two Mustang batters reached, Senior third baseman Tanner Hoemann brought the Mounds View fans to their feet with a three-run home run to left field.

“Our lead-off guy set the tempo,” Anderson said. “You can’t draw it up much better than one and two followed by a dinger.”

The Mustangs ended up sending seven batters to the plate in the opening inning. In the second inning, Mounds View got a boost when the No. 9 hitter, freshman Jack Glancy, sent another pitch over the fence to give the Mustangs a 4-0 lead. It was Glancy’s first start as a varsity baseball player.

“I’m so proud of (Glancy),” Rogers said. “He was having so much fun. I just told him to relax before the game.”

With a four-run lead, Rogers rolled along against the Pony lineup, not allowing a runner to reach base until the 4th inning.

“He’s steady eddy out there on the mound,” Anderson said. “He kept pounding the zone. That’s what you have to do when you have a lead like that.”

Stillwater (1-1, 1-1) found a peak of life in the fourth inning. The Ponies scratched together three singles, including a single from Luke Adams that brought home Alex Van Dell and got Stillwater on the board. The Ponies amounted just four hits on Friday.

“I was just confident with every pitch,” Rogers said. “I believed in myself and the guys behind me.”

Holding a three-run lead heading into the seventh, Mounds View opened things up with a four-run inning. Senior Ryan Counihan drove in a pair of runs to make it 6-1 and two more came around later in the inning to make it 8-1. Rogers finished off the job and silenced any chance of a comeback in the bottom of the inning.

“Our guys did a great job of continuing to play,” Anderson said. “They’re a team that will scrap back and find a way to get on top of you. I’m proud of how we handled things tonight”