GREEN ISLE – When it comes to Labor Day weekend, you take a win any way you can get them. The Young America Cardinals know all about that.
A team that has played multiple tight games in this tournament over the years took advantage of some sloppy defense early on to take control of the game and it never looked back in a 4-0 win over the Union Hill Bulldogs at Irish Yard.
“Unfortunately we haven’t hit the ball like we can yet,” Young America manager Adam Kostecka said. “If they’re going to give us runs, we’ll take them. We have to get those big hits when we need them. If we get those big hits it’s a (different game).”
After New Prague draftee Gavin Bergman retired the first batter of the game, Alex Logelin reached on a walk to give the Cardinals their first baserunner. An errant throw into center field found its way to the fence allowing Logelin to score to give Young America a 1-0 lead. Joe Kley delivered an RBI double to extend the lead to 2-0 as it took advantage of three Union Hill errors. The Cardinals added on one more run in the second and one more in the sixth to seal the win.
The Cardinals once again turned to ace Josh Lenz on the mound, who turned in another signature performance. Lenz has toed the rubber in three of the past four games for Young America, picking up wins in all three of them. He finished the game allowing just three hits in the shutout to go along with 11 strikeouts. For the state tournament, he’s 2-0 with an ERA of 1.13 in 16 innings of work to go along with 22 strikeouts.
“He’s got some kind of different switch in big games like this,” Kostecka said about Lenz. “Honestly, I can’t take him out of the game. Half the time he won’t let me if I wanted to. With a four-run lead, I felt pretty confident leaving him out there. He has such a good arm and he’s amazing.”
Offensively, Brice Panning showed how comfortable he is playing under the bright lights of the state tournament. After tying the state record for hits in a single game with six in 2018, Panning flirted with that record once again going 4-for-5 with a double and three singles against the Bulldogs. He had four of the eight hits for the Cardinals in the win. Logelin, Kley, Cole Peters, and Hunter Rickaby each added one hit apiece.
“The top of the lineup hasn’t really done much,” Kostecka said. “It’s been the bottom of the lineup. It’s nice to have a lineup that can score from all over. If we can get all our guys going, we’re going to be really dangerous.”
With the win, Young America advances to the Class C state quarterfinals where it awaits the winner of Fairmont and Sartell. After two years in Class B, the Cardinals are back in the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2020 where they fell short in the semifinals against St. Patrick.
“We’re very excited,” Kostecka said. “Having only to use one pitcher tonight is huge. We’ve got a plethora of arms ready to go. We’re poised to make a run if we can hit the ball and we’ll put together some wins this weekend.”
