Two Harbors baseball honors top players after 6-14 season

Two Harbors ended its spring by turning team awards into a preview of what the Agates need to build next. The 6-14 record and a first-round 5-11 section playoff loss to Pequot Lakes showed the gaps, but the honors also pointed to a team that finished stronger, leaned on senior leadership and found real pieces for the future.

Senior captain Brenner Quinn was the center of that picture. Quinn earned team MVP and shared Best Hitter honors with fellow captain Anders Hastings, adding to his All-Conference recognition and reinforcing how much the program relied on his production and steadiness. In a season that asked older players to carry a young roster, Quinn’s role went beyond the box score, helping set the tone for a group that continued to compete late in the year.

The pitching awards underscored where Two Harbors had some of its biggest individual bright spots. Junior Garren Tikkanen was honored after a season that included a 16-strikeout performance in the April 28 win over Carlton/Wrenshall, one of the sharpest outings on the team’s schedule. Senior Jacob Swardstrom also earned a pitching award after supplying steady innings and veteran presence on the mound. Noah Mecklin’s Best Defensive Player honor pointed to another priority for next year: dependable defense behind the pitching staff. Best Teammate honors went to Dax Krech and Quinn, a reminder that the Agates valued accountability and support as much as runs and strikeouts.

Those awards came after a year of visible growth under head coach Adam Labat, who was in his third season leading the program. The roster had grown to 31 players in grades 7 through 12, and the team had five seniors this spring, three more than the previous year. Labat said the long-term goal is to have at least five players in every grade level, a benchmark that matters in a small-school program where depth can decide whether a team can absorb injuries, fill multiple roles and stay competitive deep into May.

The late-season results showed why that depth still matters. Two Harbors won three of its last four games before the final week of the regular season, including victories over Cook County twice on May 11, Mesabi East on May 15, McGregor on May 19 and Cromwell-Wright on May 21. The schedule also noted an early stoppage in the Mesabi East game because of the Stewart Trail Fire evacuation zone, another disruption in a season that still ended with the Agates fifth in the Polar Conference at 5-7. The awards now read less like a closing ceremony than a map of the players most likely to shape the next step.