Muskies, Orioles and Bulldogs headed to state
New Market, New Prague and Union Hill wrapped up spots in the 2013 Minnesota Amateur Baseball Tournament over the weekend, with each team going 2-0 in the first two rounds of the Region 3C tournament. This will be New Market’s third trip to state, their first since 1984. New Prague is making its 14th trip and Union Hill its 13th. Three other teams will vie for the final spot from Region 3C, which includes 12 teams from the Dakota- Rice-Scott League. Faribault, Prior Lake and St. Benedict each went 1- 1 in the tournament. Faribault and Prior Lake were scheduled to play Tuesday, with the winner playing St. Benedict at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, at Veseli for the final spot. Tuesday’s game was suspended in the sixth inning with Faribault leading 5-2, and was scheduled to be resumed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The four state-bound teams are scheduled to play two games each over the weekend to determine seeding for the state tournament. The top seed will get a first-round bye. The tournament begins Thursday, Aug. 15, at Delano and Maple Lake.
Lonsdale 4, Veseli 2
Lonsdale advanced in the Region 3C tournament with a 4-2 first round win over Veseli Tuesday, July 30. Justin Scheffler, Kevin Kalina, Lance Anderson and Travis Scheffler each had two hits for the Aces. Anderson was the winning pitcher, allowing just five hits and two runs in seven innings while striking out eight. Phil Tisdel got the save, pitching two perfect innings. Luke Giesen took the loss for Veseli Montgomery 7, Webster 3 Montgomery defeated Webster 7- 3 Tuesday, July 30, in an elimination game at Montgomery. The Mallards had three hits from Mike Flicek and two hits each from Kyle Kubes, Phil Worm, Nick Worm and Michael Kocina. Josh Kuchinka was the winning pitcher, striking out five while pitching a complete game. Nick Nelson took the loss for Webster.
New Prague 3, Shakopee 2 (10 innings)
It would take New Prague 10 innings to win a play-in game Wednesday, July 31. The Orioles’ Dusty Beckius and the Coyotes’ Cody Pamperin were engaged in a pitchers' duel most of the night. With the game tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the 10th inning Dan Ring hit a one-out single followed by another single by Aaron Shetka. Teddy Nytes followed with a base hit to right-center that drove in Ring to give the Orioles the win. Bryan Schmitz was the winning pitcher after relieving Beckius in the ninth inning.
Union Hill 3, St. Patrick 2
Left-hander Daniel Feneis made his first career start to open up region play for the Bulldogs, and he made it a good one. Feneis went the distance giving up four hits and striking out eight. Josh Simon started for the Irish going nine innings, taking the loss. Feneis was able to get three double play balls to get out of a few jams. Ben Trewartha beat out an infield single to score the winning run for the Bulldogs. St. Benedict 4, Montgomery 2 St. Benedict defeated Montgomery 4-2 Thursday in Montgomery Thursday, Aug. 1. Tanner Oakes pitched seven innings for the win. Jacob Wolf earned the save. Robbie Marshall got the tough luck loss going the distance giving up just three hits. Andrew Huss had two hits for the Saints. Tyler Oakes drove in two runs. Eric Iverson had both RBIs for the Mallards.
New Market 13, Lonsdale 8
Nick and Nate Rost both launched home runs in the first inning to give the New Market Muskies a big start, as they led Lonsdale 3-0 after one inning on Thursday, Aug. 1. New Market led 4-0 when the Mallards scored three in the bottom of the fourth, with Matt Tschida, Travis Scheffler and Paul Tisdel all getting singles. Bryce Rippentrop had a two-run double in the fifth to give the Muskies the lead, They would add to their lead in each of the final three innings. DH Mike Carpentier drove in two runs with a double in the seventh and two more with a base hit in the eighth. Nick Rost hit his second home run on the night in the ninth inning Lonsdale scored four runs in the ninth to try to close the gap, but they were too far down. Alex Rayman went 6-plus innings for Lonsdale to take the loss. Nate Rost went seven strong innings and gave way to Rippentrop after two batters in the eighth. Aaron Kes, Kalina, and Tschida each had multiple hits for Lonsdale.
New Prague 6, Faribault 2
New Prague hosted Faribault and jumped to a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.Dan Novak led the inning off with a double to deep left field, followed by singles from Dan Ring, Aaron Shetka and Justin Novak. Faribault cut the lead in half in the seventh when Ryan Archambault and Joey Grote came home on singles from Jay Ellerbusch and Danny Pierce. New Prague answered back in the bottom half of the inning when Dan Shetka and Austin Bachman singled and Dan Novak hit another double to score them both. Dan Novak was the winning pitcher, striking out eight in nine innings. Evan Knutson took the loss for the Lakers.
Prior Lake 9, St. Patrick 6
The Prior Lake Mudcats eliminated St. Patrick from the playoffs with a 9-6 victory in Prior Lake Friday, Aug. 2. St. Patrick got the scoring started with a solo home run in the first inning by Matt Ambroz off starter Jake Schmidt. The Mudcats answered in the third inning with three runs. Jake Lehrer ripped a two-run double to left-center and Casey Johnson drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the third run. St. Patrick scored in the fifth inning on singles by Will Walsh and Derek Hahn, a walk to Colton Borwege loaded them up. Matt Pexa
hit a sacrifice fly to right to score the run. In the sixth inning Matt Ambroz had a leadoff double and came
home in a base hit by his brother Seth. The Mudcats took command with six runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by a three-run homer by Jake Lehrer off Saints’ reliever Bill Dunker. Wade Schutknecht launched a
three-run homer in the seventh to cut the Mudcat lead in half, but that would be it for the Irish. Matt Pexa and Matt Ambroz each had two hits for the Irish, with Ambroz getting a home run and a double. Lehrer had two hits and five RBIs for Prior Lake, while Casey Johnson added two hits.
New Market 11, Montgomery 1 (7 innings)
New Market became the first team in the Region to clinch a playoff spot Saturday, Aug. 3, with an 11-1 win over Montgomery. Montgomery had a chance to start big, loading the bases in the first inning, but the Muskies got out of the inning thanks to a pickoff throw at first by catcher Jay Chlan. Chlan also contributed with his bat, driving in two runs with a base hit in the second inning. New Market’s Nate Rost hit a grand slam in the fourth to give his team a 6-0 lead. Dave Stewart, Nick Rost and Kyle Bergstrom scored on the play. Muskies’ pitcher Derek Bergstrom stifled the Mallard hitters, striking out two batters in four innings and allowed only one hard hit ball all afternoon. The Mallards scraped across a run in the seventh after Eric Iverson led off with a single and eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Phil Worm. But that would be the extent of the Montgomery offense. The Muskies added some insurance in the fourth thanks to a tworun homer by Kyle Bergstrom. In the bottom of the seventh, Scotty Lyden singled in Tom Carpentier for the game-ending run.
Faribault 3, Lonsdale 2
Jake Stocker’s two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth gave Faribault a 3-2 win over Lonsdale, eliminating the Aces and sending Faribault on to the next round of the Region 3C playoffs. Jack Helgeson earned the complete- game win, striking out six. Lonsdale had taken a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth.
New Prague 3, St. Benedict 1
In a game to clinch a spot in the state tournament the Orioles would prevail using strong defense and great pitching to defeat St. Benedict 3-1 Sunday, Aug. 4. Austin Bachman scored in the first inning on a double by Dan Novak. The Orioles would also score two more runs in the third inning when they would get Tyler Seurer to open with a single followed in order by a Justin Novak walk, Danny Shetka single, a walk for Bachman, and a sacrifice fly from Dan Novak. All of St. Benedict's offense would be provided by starting pitcher Chris Hartman who hit a home run in the sixth inning. Bryan Schmitz got the win for New Prague, Chad Skluzacek got the
save.
Union Hill 4, Prior Lake 3 (12 innings)
Union Hill punched their ticket to the state tournament by outlasting Prior lake 4-3 in 12 innings. Brad Weiers started for the Bulldogs going 6 1/3 innings with Feneis coming on in relief to pick up the win. Feneis finished the final 5-2/3 innings. Ben Morrison started for the Mudcats and went the distance. Conrad Masberg put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first with a solo home run. Union Hill put two more runs up in the bottom of the fourth when Jesse Bastyr led off with a base hit. Masberg sacrificed Bastyr to second and Adam Gill singled to score Bastyr. Gill advanced to second on a walk by Matt Beckius. Brad Weiers was able to beat out a double play ball, moving Gill to third. Gill scored on a pick off attempt at first. Prior Lake would tie the game with three runs in the seventh. That would be all of the scoring until the 12th inning. Ben Trewartha reached on an error and was sacrificed to third by Bastyr. After Masberg and Gill were walked intentionally, Matt Beckius dropped a single over the third baseman's head, plating Trewartha for the winning run.
