Gunderson Walk-Off HR Sees TC BB Beat Lenox for District Championship, 4-3

Tri-Center's Tristin Gunderson (7-13-24)

Gunderson Walk-Off HR Sees TC BB Beat Lenox for District Championship, 4-3 -

(7-13-24) – Possible no-hitter. Wild, back-and-forth, playoff baseball. This game had everything.

Tristan Gunderson’s first home run of the season couldn’t have come at a better time. With one out in bottom of the 7th, he launched a blast to left to let Tri-Center walk it off over Lenox, 4-3, in Class 1A District 15 Championship Game.

Gunderson told KNOD Sports that he adjusted his stance in anticipation of the pitch.

“At the beginning of the at-bat, he threw me three curveballs. Fouled a couple off. He threw me a fastball, I fouled that off and then I was staying curveball cause I knew he was gonna throw me another one because I was super early on them. And the I scooted up in the box and he threw me a curveball right down the middle and I hit it right in the sweet spot of the bat and it just went.”

Trojans Coach Max Kozeal likes how Gunderson’s hard work paid off big for his team.

“Justin works really hard,” said Kozeal. “He works really hard, hitting the ball and behind the plate.”

The game ended with each team scoring runs in the final two innings. Lenox scored a pair of runs in 6th on an error and a wild pitch to tie the game at 2-2. In the bottom of the inning, AJ Harder came around to score from 2nd on a sac bunt by Cameron Hoden gave Tri-Center the lead again.

Reliever Isaac Wohlhuter allowed a lead-off single to the Tigers Laramie Stoaks, their first hit of the game. Wohlhuter then struck out the next to batters. A comeback to the mound would have ended it, but the throw was wide and Stoaks didn’t stop running, scoring all the way from 1st to tied the game again, and set up for Gunderson’s heroics.

Lincoln Thomas threw 6 no-hit innings allowing 2 unearned runs. He also had terrific defense as Gunderson threw out one runner attempting to steal and picked off another at 1st. Thomas also picked off a runner.

“Lincoln's been awesome,” said Kozeal. “You know, his stuff’s electric. His ball moves. Doesn't matter. Fastball, curveball, whatever, off speed he's throwing his ball moves a lot. And he's a competitor. He competes. We know when we're gonna get him on the mound, he is going to compete and you know with the defense behind him, those guys that made some phenomenal plays today.”

Gunderson echoed his coach’s sentiment about Thomas.

“He's a great pitcher. He really is. He's got a nasty fastball and a great slider. He's probably one of our best pitchers and I think it's really a great opportunity to be able to catch him and then we'll be able to catch him next year.”

Tri-Center started the game with back-to-back hits by Cael Witt and Carter Kunze to earn an early 1-0 lead. Thomas would come around to score on an error that same inning to go give the Trojans a 2-0 after 1 inning.

Stoaks went 6.2 innings for Lenox, giving up 3 earned runs and striking out 8 in the loss.

Coach Kozeal joked that if Gunderson tattooed one, he’d have to get one.

“Coach (Travis) McGee told him that if he hits a ball (with an exit velocity of) 95MPH plus in the game today, he's going to have to get a tattoo of ‘95’. (It was) Just to get him to relax a little bit. So maybe Coach McGee going to get a 95 tattoo now.”

Tri-Center will now play Bedford in the Class 1A Substate 8 Final in Atlantic on Tuesday.

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