Orioles, Lakers and Muskies win at state

A dramatic game-winning home run, two dominant pitching performances and an extra-inning marathon loss gave the Dakota-Rice-Scott League a 3-1 showing in the first weekend of the State Amateur Baseball Tournament.

On Friday, Aug. 18, James Fuerniss hit a two-out, threerun home run in the top of the ninth inning to give New Prague a 5-2 win over Watkins. On Saturday, Faribault’s Matt Lane pitched eight innings, allowing just four hits and hit a home run as the Lakers defeated Gibbon 9-1. On Sunday, New Market’s Nate Rost threw a one-hit shutout as the Muskies defeated Dumont 4- 0. The three wins gave the DRS a sweep of its first round games in the Class C Tournament.

Also on Sunday, Elko battled Brooklyn Park in the Class B Tournament and the two teams battled for 20 innings, tying a tournament record, before Brooklyn Park won on a walk-off single for a 4-3 win.

The tournament continues this weekend with four DRS teams in action; two on Saturday and two on Sunday. On Saturday, Aug. 26, Faribault faces Midway at 5 p.m. in Green Isle. At the same time, in Hamburg, it will be Union Hill, which had a first round bye, taking on Milroy.

On Sunday, Aug. 27, both DRS games will be played in Norwood. It will be New Prague vs. Chokio at noon, followed by New Market vs. Kimball at 2:30 p.m.

Last week’s results

Orioles 5, Clippers 2 Watkins took an early 1-0 lead thanks to an error and a wild pitch. In the third inning New Prague tied it when Jake Klein and Aaron Kes both singled, and Klein scored on a wild pitch. Watkins’ Dan Sargent hit a home run over the scoreboard in right field to give his team a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. The Orioles tied it in the eighth on a Dan Novak base hit. Klein singled, his third hit of the game, to lead off the ninth. Justin Novak sacrificed him to second and Kes was hit by a pitch. With two outs, James Fuerniss drilled a three-run homer to left to give the Orioles the lead. Trevor Smisek, who came on in the eighth inning, got the win in relief of Nathan Sprouls. Sprouls went 7-1/3 innings, allowing just four hits and two runs, one earned. He struck out nine batters. Smisek, a draftee from Montgomery, went 1- 2/3 innings, striking out three. Matt Geislinger went the distance for Watkins to take the loss. He struck out 14 Orioles.

Lakers 9, Reds 1 Matt Lane did the job on the mound and at the plate as Faribault took a 9-1 win over Gibbon Saturday. Lane pitched eight innings, allowing just four hits and one run while striking out four, and blasted a three-run home run for the Lakers. Blake Langerud, Joey Grote, Ryan Archambault, Jack Helgeson and Dylan Valentyn each had two hits and Helgeson pitched one inning of relief. Jon DeRock took the loss for the Reds.

Muskies 4, Saints 0 New Market’s Nate Rost allowed just one hit and struck out 10 for a complete game win over Dumont Sunday in Hamburg. New Market took advantage of five Saints’ errors, four of which came in the third inning when the Muskies took a 3-0 lead. David Stewart, Kyle Henkemeyer and Scott Lyden scored. Lyden finished the game with two hits and two RBIs. Eldon Evans, a draftee from Montevideo, started for Dumont and took the loss.

Norsemen 4, Express 3 In the Class B Tournament on Sunday, Elko and Brooklyn Park played a marathon 20-inning game, with the Norsemen winning on a walkoff single. The 20 innings tied a state tournament record. Jason Grimm - who went 4-for-8 on the game, hit a two-run homer in the third inning to give Elko a 2-0 lead, but Brooklyn Park tied it in the fourth. Grimm had an RBI hit in the eighth inning as well, but Brooklyn Park tied it in the bottom of the inning. Neither team would score for the next 11 innings before the winning run scored in the 20th. Mike Mehlich started for Elko and went seven innings, allowing just four hits and two runs. Nick Bentley faced two batters without retiring anyone, then Dylan Thomas pitched nine scoreless innings of relief, allowing just two hits and striking out 10. Grant Gunderson pitched three innings and took the loss for the Express. Ben Christofferson got the win in relief for Brooklyn Park.