Two Harbors Agates find late-season rhythm before playoffs
Two Harbors went 3-1 in its last four games, capped by a 7-1 lead over Mesabi East before fire cut the game short. The late surge gave the Agates momentum heading into playoffs.
A slow spring gave way to a much sharper finish for the Two Harbors Agates, who won three of their final four games and carried renewed confidence into the postseason picture under third-year head coach Adam Labat. The surge mattered in more than the standings. For a small-school program built around a 24-player varsity and JV roster, each win has been a marker of progress, and each one has given Two Harbors another reason to believe the season is still moving forward.
The stretch started with a pair of lopsided wins over Cook County on May 6, when the Agates rolled 26-3 and 13-1. Two days later, Two Harbors played Mesabi East in a tight 6-5 game before falling to Silver Bay later that day, 18-6. After a 11-7 loss to Cherry, the Agates turned back toward the kind of baseball Labat has been pushing for, building a 7-1 lead against Mesabi East on May 15 before the game was cut short by a local fire. That kind of response, even in an unfinished game, showed a team finding rhythm when it mattered most.
The fire interruption tied the baseball season directly to life in Lake County. In April, the county announced new wildfire evacuation zones and said the changes were tied to lessons from last year’s Camphouse Fire, with smaller zones meant to improve readiness through mass notification and GIS systems. On May 15, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued a Red Flag Warning for 54 counties because of extreme fire risk, underscoring how quickly a spring athletic event can turn into part of a wider public safety concern.
For the Agates, the late-season push also carries weight for the program’s future. Labat has said his focus is on getting more kids to come out and play as participation declines, and an earlier season-end look at the program pointed to nearly ten sophomores contributing and almost twenty 7th- and 8th-graders on the way up. That depth, if it keeps growing, gives Two Harbors a better chance to stay competitive beyond this year’s final box score.
The regular season wrapped with a doubleheader at Ely on May 22, and the timing of the run leaves Two Harbors with something valuable heading into playoff baseball: belief. In a town that knows how much a strong spring can lift school spirit, the Agates’ late rhythm has become a storyline with real stakes for the weeks ahead.
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