Perham baseball tops East Grand Forks, returns to state tournament

Perham’s defense-first formula delivered again at Krueger Field, where the Yellowjackets beat East Grand Forks 4-1 on June 3 to win the Section 8AA championship and advance to the state tournament for the fourth straight season.

The victory pushed Perham to its 13th state appearance and extended a run that has made late May and early June feel familiar in Otter Tail County. The Yellowjackets entered the title game with a 21-2 record, and they looked every bit like a team built to survive pressure. Head coach James Mulcahy said Lyam Schumacher’s alert play on an overthrow, which ended with Schumacher cutting down a runner at the plate, showed how quickly Perham reacts when a game starts to tilt.

That same instinct showed up again and again as the Yellowjackets controlled the final innings. Kade Raser started the game-ending double play, a fitting finish for a club that kept turning defense into outs when East Grand Forks tried to extend the game. Sophomore pitcher Micah Lung handled the rest, settling in on the mound and trusting the gloves behind him to finish the job.

Perham broke the game open in the fourth inning, when Gavin Griffin delivered an RBI single and Ty Rooney added another RBI as the Yellowjackets scored four runs in the frame. That was enough support for Lung and a defense that has become the program’s calling card.

The win also added another chapter to a section rivalry that has repeatedly gone through East Grand Forks. Perham beat the Green Wave 9-1 in the 2024 Section 8AA title game to reach its second straight state tournament, then won 3-2 in the 2025 section championship at Park Rapids High School. Now the Yellowjackets are headed to CHS Field again, with the Minnesota State High School League listing June 5, 2026 as the last day to hold section tournament play. For Perham, another state trip is no longer a surprise. It is the standard.