Mounds View sweeps Forest Lake in baseball

Mounds View's big arms carried it through games seven and eight this week.

Junior lefthander Sam Hentges gave up just one run over six innings and hit a home run in a 4-1 Game 1 victory on Friday at Forest Lake.

Senior lefthander Max Knutson gave up two runs over 8⅔ innings and provided the game-tying hit and scored the game-winning run in ninth inning as the Mustangs won 3-2 in Game 2.

Lars Anderson drove Knutson home when it appeared Forest Lake had secured a split. Alex Egle of the Rangers drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the top of the ninth, but the Mustangs rallied with two outs in the bottom half.

"I didn't have my 'A'-game today, but I put a little heart into it and gutted it out," Knutson said. "They're the No. 1 team in the [Suburban East] conference, so to take two from them is huge."

Alec Abercrombie was 2-for-4 in Game 2 and homered in Game 1. Hentges followed his example, hitting two of his own home runs throughout the day.

"I tried to give us a little extra lead. Give us a little cushion," Hentges said after insuring his own win in Game 1 with a seventh-inning home run. "After you get a first-inning run it's always nice as a pitcher."

The Rangers had 11 hits in Game 2, but had no extra-base hits. Reid Larson, Dylan Dresel and Noah Brown each had a pair of hits

"It's always tough against pitchers like that," Forest Lake catcher Beau Fandel said. "But we still had good at-bats."