National Highlight Reel: Burnsville wins baseball title with incredible rally

It was one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of Minnesota high school baseball.

Burnsville (Minn.) trailed Maple Grove (Minn.), 5-0, in the seventh and final inning of the Class AAA state championship game at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, in Minneapolis.

The game had been scoreless until Maple Grove scored five times – aided by two errors – in the fifth inning.

Burnsville coach Mick Scholl watched his players hit three hard shots in the sixth inning, but each one only resulted in an out. The baseball gods seemed to again be turning thumbs down to last year's state runner-up.

Bottom of the seventh inning. Last chance. One good omen: the rain, which had been coming down fairly hard since the third inning in 54-degree weather, had slowed to a mist.

Six-foot junior designated hitter Bo Hellquist led off with some extra determination, because he had been soundly chewed out for not running hard on a fourth-inning popup to the shortstop.

"Normally, I don't yell, but the kids know it's very meaningful when I do," Scholl pointed out.

"I was pretty nervous," Hellquist admitted. "You want to prove to your coach that your head still is in the game and you're not slacking off. I knew we had to do something miraculous."

He did his part by hitting a single up the middle. More hits followed and the score closed to 5-4 with two outs. He again came to the plate, this time facing enormous pressure as he ran the count to 2-2. Down to the final bullet.

"I knew the game rested on my shoulders," he said. "Whatever I did would make or break our season. I hit the ball down the first base line. The first baseman dove for it and it just went under his glove. Everything is a blur from then."

Two runs scored (he was credited with a long single) for an astonishing 6-5 victory and Burnsville's first state baseball title. The Blaze finished with a 24-3 record.

"It felt great," Hellquist said. "It just showed that our team could overcome any deficit. I was feeling a little down in the dumps, but I feel I redeemed myself. At Target Field makes it even more memorable, because you played where pro athletes play and where you'd like to play in the future. It's a story I'll never forget. I still get chills every time I watch a replay of it."

Scholl admitted some surprise that Hellquist played such a key role.

He confessed, "Nobody expected Bo would be this kind of player. He's a character – life is pretty easy. He has a loose personality, always joking around. Sometimes he frustrates me, but between the lines he's all business."

Scholl said due to last year's near miss that this year's motto had been "Unfinished Business."

As Burnsville fans stormed the field to celebrate, T-shirts were passed out emblazoned with the prophetic words "Business Finished."

* Texas overcame a nine-run deficit to nip Georgia, 16-10, during the championship game of the second annual Heartland Classic in Norman, Okla. Catcher Hunter Lockwood, who is committed to the University of Oklahoma, drove in four runs for the 8-0 champs. Georgia's Jerad Curry hit five home runs during the tournament.

* Babe Ruth won the Tournament of Stars championship for the third year in a row with a 3-2 victory over AABC at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. Daniel Robertson led the champs with four hits and doubled in the winning run.

* Chip O'Neil has retired as head baseball coach at Clay (South Bend, Ind.). He compiled a 545-352-6 record during 33 years at Clay and St. Joseph's (South Bend, Ind.).

BOYS BASKETBALL: MILLIONAIRE TO COACH TWO TEAMS
Millionaire Jim Justice has been named boys basketball coach at Greenbrier East (Lewisburg, W. Va.). Justice, who owns the Greenbrier Resort, also will be coaching the girls team for the 12th year, making him the only West Virginia coach at the AAA level to handle both teams.

* Coach Gary Trousdale has left Class 2A state champion Westwind Prep Academy (Phoenix) to build a program in the La Jolla (Calif.) area.

* Taft (Woodland Hills, Calif.) defeated Chatsworth (Calif.), 69-56, to win the 16th annual War on the Floor Tournament at Pierce College. Sophomore Ajon Efferson scored 18 points to lead four players in double figures.

* Purdue University recruit Basil Smotherman has transferred from Heritage Christian (Indianapolis) to Lawrence North (Indianapolis). The 6-5, 190-pounder is among Indiana's elite rising juniors.

* Hope Academy (Chicago) rising junior guard Jalen James has committed to the University of Illinois, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. As a sophomore, the 6-foot-3 standout averaged 16 points and nine assists.

GIRLS BASKETBALL: A&M GETTING TOP RECRUITS
This year's national championship continues to pay dividends for the Texas A&M women's basketball program, according to the Dallas Morning News. The Aggies have commitments from at least four of the nation's top 50 rising seniors. The latest is 5-6 point guard Jordan Jones, who averaged 14.5 points and 6.3 assists as a junior at DeSoto (Texas). Baylor and Tennessee also wanted her.

* Alex Hillyer, a 6-3 rising senior, has committed to Missouri State, according to the Springfield News-Leader. She averaged 20.2 points, 10 rebounds and 3.4 blocks last season for Eureka (Mo.).

* Jackie Boswell has been named head coach at Stevenson University. Over the past 11 years she led highly-regarded Seton Keough (Baltimore) to a 238-81 record. She also was the softball coach and athletic director.

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