Photos: Burnsville Blasts Into Baseball Semifinals

Burnsville pitcher Quinn Johnson was aware of his no-hit bid on Thursday as early as the third inning, when catcher Justin Threkeld made the superstitious baseball blunder of mentioning the feat in progress.

“I just told him not to talk about it, really,” Johnson said, smiling. “It would have been nice to throw it and everything, but a win is more important.”

Johnson took a perfect game into the fifth inning Thursday in the Class AAA state quarterfinal against Bemidji. Though the Lumberjacks did finally reach base, the Blaze advanced with a 13-0 win at Midway Stadium in St. Paul.

The victory sends Burnsville to Friday’s semifinals against Rochester Century at noon.

Johnson’s dominance on the mound led the way. He struck out nine batters and allowed two hits—both in the fifth and final inning—while not allowing a run or a walk.

Mixing his pitches and maintaining his control, Johnson looked poised from start to finish and kept the Bemidji hitters off balance.

“He showed a lot of character and punched a lot of strikes,” junior Bo Hellquist said. “It’s very typical of him to do that out there.”

While the Lumberjacks (18-10) struggled at the plate, Burnsville relaxed offensively and slapped hit after hit off Bemidji starter Zach Solheim. Hellquist started the offensive onslaught with a two-run triple in the third inning, and the Blaze never looked back. Burnsville tagged the Lumberjacks for five runs in the third and six in the fourth en route to a 13-run victory.

Hellquist led the way with a 3-for-4 night, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Second baseman Derek Johnson went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs, and Tyler Hill, Jr. went 1-for-2 with three runs score and two RBIs.

“Everybody knew we had a great team, and we could come out here and show these guys up,” Hellquist said. “Put the ball in play and rack up a bunch of runs.”

Coach Mick Scholl said when the team gets strong pitching like Johnson’s performance on Thursday, the hitting takes care of itself.

“That’s just how our team gels,” coach Scholl said.

Burnsville (22-3) narrowly missed a rematch with Eden Prairie in Friday’s semifinals. The Eagles, who beat the Blaze 7-5 in last year’s state championship game, lost 3-0 against Rochester Century in the quarterfinals.

Johnson and Scholl said that potential rematch was something the team has thought about.

“It would be nice if we were able to win—maybe a little revenge,” Johnson said before the Eagles faced the Panthers on Thursday. “But no matter who we play, we’ll be focused and ready to go.”

GAME RESULTS

Burnsville 0 5 6 2 0 — 13 15 0

Bemidji 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 5

Hitting leaders—Dan Motl 1-3, 2 R; Andy Liser 2-4, 1R, 1RBI; Derek Johnson 2-3, 1R, 2RBIs; Justin Threkeld 2-2, 2R, 1RBI; Tyler Hanson 2-3, 2R; Bo Hellquist 3-4, 2R, 3RBIs; Tyler Hill, Jr. 1-2, 3R, 2RBIs

Pitching line—Quinn Johnson W 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 9 K, 0 BB