Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: The St. Edmond baseball squad reacts to their walk-off victory over Manson Northwest Webster on Thursday at Rogers Park. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The St. Edmond baseball team showed their fighting spirit here Thursday night at Rogers Park.

Down 4-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, the Gaels rallied for a walk-off 5-4 victory over Manson Northwest Webster.

Senior Kinnick Henning drove in classmate Ethan Swisher for the game-winning run after fellow graduates Grant Galles and Jack McElroy provided key moments in the inning.

“That’s how you help build a program,” SEHS head coach Jordan Miller said. “You can’t go from A to Z. You’ve got to take steps to get where you want to be, and we took some of those steps.

“We should have been dead in the water out there, so to speak. But our guys battled. It all started with Jack, and the seniors had their moments.”

McElroy, who pitched six innings of four-hit ball with seven strikeouts, got on base to start the seventh. He later scored on a single by Galles that also drove in Griffin Laufersweiler to make it 4-4.

Henning drove a pitch to the outfield that set off a wild celebration for St. Edmond (2-4 overall) on the turf.

“We’re in games,” Miller said. “We’ve been in them this year and have not been able to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.

“This time, we found a way to get it done maybe when we shouldn’t have.”

For the Cougars (0-4), Dawson Marine pitched a three-hitter, striking out 10 with four walks. Both Isaiah Daggett and Christian Amspoker had a hit and an RBI. Mason Anderson recorded a triple.

The Cougars went up in the seventh on a pair of runs by Parker Ollinger and Brody Bush. Galles, though, was able to limit the damage, getting out of the inning.

“Grant’s been battling some injuries so he really hasn’t thrown all that much,” Miller said. “But he took the ball and really gave us everything. I told Jack when he walked off the mound that he deserved better than that because he pitched a great game. We just didn’t come through for him on offense.”

Galles finished with two RBI, a run scored and a walk. Henning and Blake Bartlett each had a hit and drove in a run.

Laufersweiler scored twice and stole a base.

St. Edmond is off until Monday when it heads to Clarion-Goldfield/Dows. Manson Northwest Webster is at East Sac County on Friday night.

ST. EDMOND 5, MANSON NW 4

Manson NW 011 00 2 — 4 4 2

St. Edmond 100 010 3 — 5 3 3

WP–Grant Galles (1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 1 BB). LP–Dawson Marine (6ª IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 10 K, 4 BB).

3B–MNW: Mason Anderson. 2B–SE: Blake Bartlett. RBI–MNW: Isaiah Daggett, Christian Amspoker, Ryker Gjerstad; SE: Grant Galles (2), Kinnick Henning, Blake Bartlett, Ethan Swisher. SB–MNW: Mason Anderson, Parker Ollinger, Isaiah Daggett; SE: Griffin Laufersweiler, Grant Galles, Jack McElroy.