Top seeds win in region baseball tourney
The Region 3C playoffs began Sunday, July 30, with the high seeds sweeping the first round of the eight-team, double-elimination tournament.
Play was scheduled to resume Tuesday, Aug. 1, with a pair of winner’s bracket games. New Prague played New Market in Elko while Union Hill was at Faribault. The winners of those two games earned two of the four Region 3C spots in the State Class C Tournament.
On Wednesday, Aug. 2, two elimination games were scheduled: Shakopee at Montgomery at 8 p.m. and Veseli vs. St. Patrick at Lonsdale at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday’s winners and Tuesday’s losing teams will match up on Friday, Aug. 4, with the final two state tournament berths on the line. Seeding games will be played Sunday, Aug. 6, Wednesday, Aug. 9, Friday, Aug. 1, and, if necessary, Sunday, Aug. 13. Check newpraguetimes.com for results and schedules.
Orioles 9, Mallards 7 New Prague trailed Montgomery from the second inning until the final at bat of the game, when James Fuerniss blasted a walk-off grand slam to give the O’s a 9-7 win. The game was played at St. Patrick’s Bonin Field. The Mallards took a fiverun lead after three innings. Mike Flicek had a basesloaded triple off the left field wall for the big blast. The Orioles chipped away and made it 5-3 by the bottom of the fifth inning when Taylor Lambrecht tripled to score Jake Klein from first and Justin Novak blooped an RBI single. Both teams would score two runs a piece in the sixth inning. The Mallards used a solo home run by Ryan Iverson and later in the inning Eric Iverson scored on an error after a Jaron Christensen single. The Orioles’ two runs came off a hit from Fuerniss and a Dan Novak double followed by a Jake Klein sacrifice fly. The Mallards took a 2 run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Justin Novak and Aaron Kes both drew walks that were followed up with a bunt for a hit from Austin Bachman. With the bases loaded Fuerniss hit a line shot that carried over the left-centerfield fence for a walkoff grand slam. Nathan Sprouls picked up the win for the Orioles pitching all nine innings and giving up three earned runs while striking out eight. Johnny Krocak pitched eight solid innings for the Mallards, but was not involved in the decision.
Bulldogs 14, Irish 3 St. Patrick visited Union Hill for the opening round of the Region 3C playoffs on Sunday afternoon. Hunter Piehl started on the mound for the Bulldogs, and Braden Walsh for St. Patrick. It was a promising start for the Irish as Kyle Rhodus led off the game with a double and Jordan Goracke followed with an RBI single. Matt Ambroz then singled and Goracke scored when Seth Ambroz grounded into a double play, making it 2-0. Kyle Sticha led off the top of the fourth for the Irish with a double. He scored on an RBI single by Jack Friedges to put the Irish up 3-0. After that, it was all Union Hill. Eric Bisek walked to lead off the fourth and Adam Gill hit a two-run home run to put the Bulldogs on the board. Jesse Bastyr then walked and Dusty Steinhoff blasted a two-run homer to give the Dogs the lead. Afew batters later Bryan Lindner doubled. Nathan Berg followed with Union Hill’s third two-run homer of the inning, making it 6-3 Bulldogs. Matt Beckius led off the bottom of the sixth for the Bulldogs with a single, was sacrificed to second, and scored on a double by Lindner. Nathan Berg then walked, to bring up Conrad Masberg, who hit a three-run homer to put the Bulldogs up 10-3. Adam Giesen was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh, then Lindner and Berg both walked to load the bases and Masberg hit the next pitch out of the park for a grand slam, giving him two home runs and seven RBIs on the game. Dan Feneis earned the win in relief, while Jacob Allen took the loss for St. Patrick.
Muskies 11, Coyotes 1 New Market jumped to an 8-0 over Shakopee lead after two innings, and the Muskies ended the game early on the 10-run rule with two runs in the bottom of the seventh for an 11-1 win. Nate Rost did it all for the Muskies. He had three hits, including two home runs and seven RBIs, and also got the win on the mound, allowing just four hits in five shutout innings. Lance Bucthel had three hits for the Coyotes.
Lakers 9, Warriors 0 Faribault’s Matt Lane pitched six innings and allowed just two hits while striking out six as Faribault defeated Veseli 9-0. Lane struck out six batters in getting the win. Blake Langerud and Joey Grote both had two hits and Jack Helgeson had two RBIs for Faribault. Matt Stocker took the loss, with Blake Radloff and Nathan Simon pitching in relief.
