Bemidji baseball sweeps Brainerd in Section 8-4A playoff wins

Bemidji left Brainerd with a section sweep and a pitching line built for the postseason, striking out 22 batters in 42 defensive outs on the way to a 2-1 opener and a 12-5 finish over the Brainerd Warriors. The Lumberjacks did it Tuesday, May 19, 2026, and the way they won mattered as much as the margin.

In the first game, Wyatt Tverstol gave Bemidji the kind of seven-inning outing that can carry a team through section play. He allowed one unearned run on four hits and two walks while striking out 10, then watched his offense deliver in the seventh. Reece Dokken lined the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the inning, and Miles Gish added a run on a fielder’s choice as Bemidji completed the comeback and protected the narrow lead.

The nightcap showed a different kind of playoff value. Bemidji broke the game open with five runs in the third inning and four more in the fourth to build a 9-1 advantage, then added three insurance runs late to close out Brainerd 12-5. Gunner Ganske handled the middle of the game with six innings, four hits, two runs, one walk and 11 strikeouts, giving Bemidji a second straight outing from the mound that kept pressure off the defense.

Kash Rasmus went 3-for-3 with two runs scored in the finale, and Dokken, Ganske, James Garrison, Lawson Berg and Heaton Brodina all turned in multi-hit games. That balance, from top-to-bottom contact to power in the middle innings, is what makes a section team harder to contain once the bracket tightens.

For Bemidji High School baseball, the sweep offered a clear answer to the question that matters most now: can the Lumberjacks win in the ways playoff teams have to win? Against Brainerd, the answer was yes. They got a late close game, they got a starter who dominated the strike zone, and they got an offense that could bury a team once it found a lane. That combination suggests Bemidji may be peaking at the right time for a deeper Section 8-4A run.