Perham baseball splits Moorhead doubleheader to close regular season

Perham left Moorhead with exactly the kind of mixed message that often follows a late-May doubleheader: one game showed how dangerous the Yellowjackets can be, and the other showed how quickly an opponent can swing things back. Perham’s six-run top of the sixth powered a Game 1 win, but Moorhead answered with a mid-game push to take Game 2 and force a split at Moorhead High School.

That contrast matters more than the final split itself. A six-run inning is the kind of burst that can change the feel of a clubhouse and confirm an offense is finding the right pitch at the right time. It gave Perham a clear example of how a game can break open when the lineup strings together contact and pressure. In the second game, Moorhead did the same thing from the other side, turning a tight afternoon into a reminder that postseason baseball rarely stays scripted for long.

The doubleheader was played Thursday, May 21, with first pitch set for 4:30 p.m. and the second game following at 6 p.m. at Moorhead High School. Perham entered the matchup at 19-4 overall, while Moorhead came in at 12-7, according to MaxPreps, and the teams were meeting with the regular season winding toward its end date of June 12 under Minnesota State High School League scheduling.

For Perham, the split lands in a larger context that has kept the program near the center of county baseball conversation. The Yellowjackets won the 2025 Section 8AA title and reached the Class AA state tournament for the fourth time since James Mulcahy became head coach in 2018, so the late-season finish carried added weight as another checkpoint for a team used to meaningful baseball in late May and early June.

There was also individual momentum inside the program. Gavin Griffin became Perham’s all-time hits leader earlier in May, a milestone that underscored how productive the Yellowjackets have been at the plate during a season that has already included several high-profile moments. Against Moorhead, that offensive identity showed up in flashes, especially in the six-run sixth that decided Game 1.

The split did not make Perham look finished. It made the Yellowjackets look like a team with answers in some innings and work still ahead in others, which is often the real test before postseason play begins.