Sumner-Fredericksburg ousts Anamosa in Raiders’ bid for state baseball breakthrough

MANCHESTER — Making a second consecutive substate finals appearance for the first time in program history, the Anamosa baseball team came into their contest Tuesday against Class 2A eighth-ranked Sumner Fredericksburg with plenty of confidence.

Anamosa fell into a 3-0 first-inning hole and could never climb all the way back out, succumbing to a bitter, 5-3, season-ending defeat.

“We were riding high off a big district championship game win a few days earlier and knew we were capable of pulling this off and becoming the first-ever Anamosa team to qualify for the state baseball tournament,” said Raiders Coach Adam Tvedt

“We had some tough breaks during the game, but the kids just kept on fighting, like they’ve done all season long.”

Sumner-Fredericksburg advances to the state tournament in Carroll next week with a 23-4 record.

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The Cougars set an immediate tone, plating three-first inning runs. The first came from their second batter of the game as Jaymison Howard blasted a solo home run over the left-field fence. Three batters later, a double from Jaxon Willems scored Tatum Nuss and Caden Trainor and the hosts were up 3-0.

The Raiders tallied a run in the top of the fourth as a Jack Sellnau double scored Carter Kuehl to cut their deficit to 3-1.

The Cougars added some insurance in the sixth inning. Those two runs proved to be huge as the Raiders rallied in their final at-bat in the top of the seventh with Sellnau and Nate Fischer both crossing the plate.

But Anamosa would leave the game-tying run on base as Jackson Watters lined out to end the game.

“It’s tough right now,” said Tvedt, as his team wraps the 2024 campaign with a 20-10 overall record.

“But we accomplished a lot this year, and have a lot of be proud of.”