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Baseball roundup: Another big win for BBE Jaguars

joe brown and tom elliott, west central tribune, willmar, minn.
·7 min read

Jun. 5—GLENWOOD — Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa knows drama on the baseball diamond.

Four days after a pair of walk-off victories put them in the Section 6A semifinals, the Jaguars put together another captivating performance against defending section champion New York Mills.

Coming back from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Eagles 5-4 Monday at Marthaler Field, BBE is on the cusp of the program's first state berth.

"I would say we are the cardiac kids right now," said BBE head coach Ben Klaphake.

"We just took down the No. 1 team in the state," added senior pitcher Tanner Shelton.

The victory puts the Jaguars in the driver's seat for a busy Tuesday back at Glenwood. New York Mills takes on Parkers Prairie in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. The winner of that game plays BBE for the section championship around 4:30 p.m. Game 2 of the championship, if necessary, is yet to be determined.

"It's been really fun; it's like a dream almost," said Jaguars sophomore outfielder Hayden Sobiech. "You've been waiting for it your whole life. Now we're finally to this point.

"If we win tomorrow, we make history."

Shelton cruised the first time through NYM's order. He struck out five and didn't allow a single base runner over the first three innings. "My fastball was working for me really well," Shelton said. "I threw in a few slides, but my fastball was my go-to pitch for most of the game. It just worked out well.:"

The Eagles finally broke through in the top of the fourth when Jonah Ruther slid under a tag from BBE catcher Ethan Mueller for the first run. Then NYM scored back-to-back runs on suicide squeeze bunts by DaShaun Robinson and Will Oakes. A two-out RBI single by Waylen Fudge put the score at 4-0.

"That just shows how huge bunting really is in the game of baseball," Shelton said. "Coaches always preach it in practice ... and you look at it like, why? But then they showed exactly why you should (bunt)."

The Jaguars relied on the bottom of the order to cut into the deficit.

After Sobiech and Luke Illies drew back-to-back walks, Ryan Jensen hit a line drive to left field to bring in a run. Another score came with two outs after an Eagles error.

The momentum appeared to stop immediately when the final out was recorded after the umpires called Klaphake for interference for touching his base runner between third base and home plate.

Instead of dwelling on the controversial play, BBE got back to work.

Shelton did his part on the mound, holding NYM to one hit over the final three innings. He struck out eight with three hits and one walk in a complete-game victory.

"The key thing with Tanner is when he can start 0-1 in counts, he does extremely well," Klaphake said. "He has a very live fastball.

"He came back huge for us and threw strikes, attacked the zone and challenged."

Three more BBE runs came in the bottom of the fifth. Sobiech drove in a pair of runs on a one-out double. Moving to third on an Illies single that saw the lanky third baseman slide safely into first, Sobiech scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Jensen.

"That was really fun," Sobiech said with a smile talking about his eventual game-winning run. "That was enjoyable."

All five of BBE's hits and runs came from batters 6-through-9 in the lineup: Mueller, Casey Lenarz, Sobiech, Illies and Jensen.

"They've been rock stars for us, especially in this playoff run," Klaphake said of the bottom of his order. "Having guys 1-through-9 that you can trust to get the big hit in any situation makes my job a lot easier. No matter who's coming up, good things are going to happen. We'll put the ball in play and use our athleticism. And that's what we did tonight."

NYM 000 400 0-4 3 3

BBE 000 230 x-5 5 1

Hitting — NYM: Jonah Ruther 1-2 r sb, Montgomery Briard 0-2 r bb, Bode Roberts 0-3 r rbi, DaShaun Robinson 0-2 r rbi, Will Oakes 0-2 rbi, Waylen Fudge 1-3 rbi, Teagan Lausten 1-3 ... BBE: Tanner Shelton 0-3 bb, Luke Dingmann 0-1 hbp-2 bb, Ethan Mueller 0-3 bb, Casey Lenarz 2-3 r, Hayden Sobiech 1-2 r rbi-2 2b bb, Luke Illies 1-2 r bb, Ryan Jensen 1-3 rbi-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — NYM: Brayden Ehnert (L) 6-5-5-4-5-8 ... BBE: Shelton (W) 7-3-4-2-1-8

A five-run third erased an early 3-0 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg advantage and led Parkers Prairie to the victory in an elimination game at Marthaler Park in Glenwood.

Nolan Steidel, Cohen Noska and Zachary Mrnak all had two hits for the Panthers. Steil was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Noska was 2-for-4 with a run and Mrnak went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.

For KMS, Jared Cortez was 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs, a stolen base and an RBI.

Parkers Prairie then beat Upsala/Swanville Area 9-8 to advance to another elimination game at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Glenwood. The Panthers play New York Mills.

KMS 201 001 0-4 7 3

PP 005 140 x-10 10 3

Hitting — KMS: Isaac Rudningen 1-4 rbi, Travis Engelke 1-4 r, Jared Cortez 2-4 r-2 rbi 3b sb, Jaiden Henjum 1-3 rbi bb 2b, Tanner Wilts 1-3 r, Jett Olson 1-2 bb, Luke Jeseritz 0-2 bb ... PP: Dylan Debilzen 1-3 r, David Revering 1-3 rbi-3, Nolan Steidl 2-4 r rbi-2, Joseph Johnson 1-3 r bb, Cohen Noska 2-4 r, Zachary Mrnak 2-4 r rbi-3 2b, Mason Boesl 0-4 r, Shane Hanson 0-1 r-2 bb sb-2, Holden Truax 1-2 r-2 rbi-2 bb sb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — KMS: Cortez (L) 3-4-5-2-1-4, Engelke 1.1-5-5-3-2-1, Henjum 1.2-1-0-0-0-0 ... PP: Debilzen (W) 6.1-7-4-3-3-7, Truax 0.2-0-0-0-0-1

Third-seeded Holy Family Catholic handed eighth-seeded Litchfield its first loss in the Section 5AA playoffs at Fritz Field in Cologne.

The Fire trailed 4-1 before Nick Jorissen hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie it up. Holy Family Catholic added two more runs in the sixth to take the lead.

Ashton Sullivan was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run for the Dragons. Jack McCann also drove in two runs, finishing 1-for-3.

Litchfield plays Breck in an elimination game at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Cologne. Breck, the sixth seed, beat top-seeded Rockford 11-6 in the losers' bracket.

Holy Family Catholic will play the winner of the elimination bracket for the Section 5AA championship at 5 p.m. Thursday in Cologne. If the Fire lose, there'll be a final game at 7 p.m.

Litchfield 002 200 0-4 8 0

HFC 100 032 x-6 8 0

Hitting — Litchfield: Jack McCann 1-3 rbi-2 sf, Calvin Johnes 1-4, Caden Besemer 1-4 2b, Connor Taber 1-3 sb, Jaxon Marquardt 1-3 r, Hunter Schultz 1-3 2b r, Ashton Sullivan 2-3 2b r rbi-2 ... HFC: Nick Jorissen 2-4 hr r rbi-3, Cameron Dean 1-3 bb, Ryan Poppitz 1-2 2b rbi bb, Kael Foudray 0-2 r, Rhett Johnson 2-3 2b r rbi, Andrew Athmann 1-2, Paul Dorr 1-3 r rbi

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Litchfield: Bradley Larson (L) 5.1-8-6-6-4-2, Schultz 0.2-0-0-0-0-0 ... HFC: J Quinn (W) 7-8-4-4-1-5