By Nick Gerhardt
It’s been 13 years since Waconia’s second-place finish at the state tournament. The Lakers fell to Isanti that season and they’ve had their share of runs to the final eight and the final 16. They’ve got a chance at a Labor Day run this season and pitcher John Bezdicek is a big reason why.
“That round of 16 has kind of been our downfall,” Waconia manager Mike Friedrich said. “We’ve got to get past that.”
Bezdicek diced up Hanska Friday at Irish Yard in Green Isle in a 10-0, seven-inning win for Waconia. He allowed just three hits in a complete game. He struck out 13 hitters and held Hanska to just one hit through the first five innings. He gave up a pair of hits in the sixth inning with two outs but got out of the inning with a called third strike delivery.
Bezdicek played collegiately at Kennesaw State University in Georgia and Southwest Minnesota State University, where became friends with some Waconia players. Jake Hendricks, Robbie Smith and Max Kalenberg played at SMSU. Bezdicek, an Osseo High School grad, also played in the Northwoods League with Willmar and the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association before he moved back to the metro area this year.
“With (Bezdicek) of course, it’s hard to turn down good arms,” Friedrich said.
With new classification on the horizon across the state next year, Friedrich and the Lakers decided adding player points with Bezdicek was the right move.
“We just said everything is going to be different,” Friedrich said. “Let’s just go for it.”
Waconia provided him with plenty of run support and broke the game open in the third inning with five runs. No. 9-hitter Owen Amrhein hit a double to score Chris Bullis with one out. After a Schultz single, Ronnie Olson singled in a run. Kalenberg slugged a double off the wall to score two more runs and AJ Friedrich capped the five-run inning with an RBI single.
Smith made it a 6-0 game after scoring off an error, one of five in the game for Hanska. Waconia extended the lead to 8-0 behind base hits from Amrhein, Schultz, Olson and Robbie Smith.
Schultz finished 3-for-5 with two RBI. Culley Ohm reached on an error earlier and scored on Schultz’s third hit of the game. Tanner Adam started the inning with a double and scored earlier to make it 9-0.
The team’s hitting has made a big difference too this season.
“We’re hitting better than we were last year,” Mike Friedrich said. “I don’t want to jinx ourselves but we’re hitting the ball better and I felt that way for the last month, month and a half. I was a little worried going into last year’s tournament. We got through regions. We won the regions, we won our first game and we might’ve scored six or seven runs.”
Waconia scored a total of five runs in two games at last year’s state tournament before bowing out against Bird Island in a 4-2 game. The Lakers will try to replicate their 2021 run where they appeared in the final eight. They’ve got pitching depth through the draft after selecting Mayer’s Blake Tritch, Green Isle’s Austin Dent and Watertown’s Ansen Dulas, in addition to the other arms on their roster.
Five players had two or more hits Friday. Ronnie Olson, Robbie Smith, Bullis and Amrhein tallied two hits in addition to Schultz.
Waconia moves on to face Region 3 champion Montgomery Sunday, Aug. 25 in Jordan at 11 a.m.
