Baseball roundup: MACCRAY closes in on state berth

Joe Brown, Michael Lyne, Tom Elliott, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·8 min read

Jun. 6—MILROY — Having to battle through extra innings, the MACCRAY baseball team cemented its spot in the Section 3A championship.

The Wolverines are one win away from state after a 5-2 win in 10 innings over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton on Saturday at Yankee Field.

MACCRAY faces the winner of the elimination bracket at 5 p.m. Thursday at a site to be determined. The Wolverines need to win once while the elimination bracket team would need to get two wins to advance to state. Game 1 is set for 5 p.m. while Game 2, if needed, starts approximately at 7 p.m.

Murray County Central and R-T-R are in the consolation bracket. Murray County Central eliminated Lac qui Parle Valley 12-1 on Saturday in Milroy.

MACCRAY looks to return to state for the first time since winning the Class A championship in 2009, the school's only state appearance.

The Knights scored first on an RBI single by Cody Wichmann that scored Dylan Anderson. The Wolverines responded in the top of the sixth with a two-out RBI single by Joe Heidecker that brought Brooks Asche home.

Tied at 1-1 through seven innings, MACCRAY's Dreyer Homan put his team ahead in the top of the eighth with a solo home run. R-T-R used small ball to tie the game back up. Blake Christianson led off with a single, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on an error. He came home on a line drive by Jack Christianson.

The Knights got the game-winning run 90 feet from home in the bottom of the ninth after loading the bases with two outs. But Asche was able to coax Brayden Appel into a groundout to get out of the jam.

In the top of the 10th, the Wolverines broke things wide open.

Gavin Husman hit a one-out single, then reached home for what would be the game-winning run on an Isaac Strommer triple. The Knights loaded up the bases with two intentional walks. Strommer added an insurance run after reaching home on a wild pitch. Then, Xavier Noble delived an RBI single to make it a three-run MACCRAY lead. Noble was 2-for-4.

Asche closed the door in the bottom of the frame with two strikeouts and a groundout. He got the win following six innings of relief.

MACCRAY 000 001 010 3-5 8 5

R-T-R 000 100 010 0-2 7 1

Hitting — MACCRAY: Gavin Husman 1-4 r bb sb-2, Isaac Strommer 1-5 3b r rbi, Dreyer Homan 1-3 hr r rbi bb, Brooks Asche 2-4 r, Xavier Noble 2-4 rbi bb sb, Joe Heidecker 1-5 rbi sb, Wyatt Swenson 0-0 r ... R-T-R: Dylan Anderson 2-4 r bb sb-3, Cody Wichmann 1-3 rbi bb-2, Aiden Wichmann 1-3 bb, Blake Christianson 1-4 r bb, Jack Christianson 1-4 rbi bb, Logan Lamote 1-5 sb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — MACCRAY: Homan 4-2-1-1-1-3, Asche (W) 6-5-1-0-7-9 ... R-T-R: C. Wichmann 7.2-5-2-2-1-12, Hayden Gravley (L) 2-3-3-3-3-4, J. Christianson 0.1-0-0-0-0-1

Lac qui Parle Valley's season came to an end following a five-inning loss to Murray County Central in a Section 3A elimination game at Yankee Field in Milroy.

The game was the final for Eagles head coach Bart Hill, who is stepping down after 27 years as head coach.

The Rebels' Connor DeGreeff went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and a pair of runs. Jaden Deacon added a pair of hits and two RBIs.

Landon Schirm was 2-for-3 for LQPV while Dain Mortenson was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The Rebels face off with Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in an elimination game at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Milroy. The winner plays MACCRAY in the section championship Thursday at a site to be determined.

The Eagles close the season with a 14-7 record.

MCC 011 64-12 9 2

LQPV 001 00-1 4 1

Hitting — MCC: Carter Benda 1-3 r-3 rbi-2, Nate Kleven 1-3 rbi, Christian Tentinger 1-3 rbi, Abe Paulzine 1-2 2b rbi, Connor DeGreeff 3-3 r-2 rbi-3, Jaden Deacon 2-3 rbi-2 ... LQPV: Landon Schirm 2-3, Dain Mortenson 1-3 rbi, Darrick Molden 1-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — MCC: Paulzine (W) 4.2-4-1-1-1-4, DeGreeff 0.1-0-0-0-1-0 ... LQPV: Kaiden Allpress (L) 3.1-5-8-5-4-1, Kaden Mortenson 1.1-4-4-4-2-1, Kadyn Fernholz 0.1-0-0-0-0-1

Down to its final out, Paynesville's Grayson Fuchs delivered with a two-run triple to put Paynesville in the Section 3AA championship with a win over Fairmont at Legion Field in Marshall.

Looking to reach state for the seventh time in school history, Paynesville faces the winner of the elimination bracket at 5 p.m. Thursday at a site to be determined. A second game, if needed, is set for 7 p.m. Paynesville needs to win just one game while the elimination bracket winner needs two wins to advance to state.

Bryce Vanderbeek hit a one-out single while Chase Bayer came through with a two-out single through the right side of the infield. That set the stage for Fuchs, who belted the bases-clearing triple to right-center. It was a banner game for Fuchs, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, two runs and a solo home run in the third inning.

The Cardinals had runners on second and third with one out to go before Bulldogs reliever Trent Wendlandt struck out Landen Meyerdirk for the final out. Wendlandt pitched 2-1/3 innings to pick up the win.

In a game that had 29 total hits, Paynesville had to come back after seeing a 8-1 lead disappear after Fairmont put up eight runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Paynesville 001 520 2-10 16 1

Fairmont 100 080 0-9 13 1

Hitting — Paynesville: Grayson Fuchs 2-4 3b hr r-2 rbi-3 bb, Max Athmann 2-5 2b r rbi-2, Eli Nelson 3-4 2b rbi, Spencer Eisenbraun 1-4, Isaac Lieser 2-4 2b r-2, Bryce Vanderbeek 2-4 r-2, Trent Wendlandt 2-4 2b r-2 rbi, Chase Bayer 2-4 r rbi-2 ... Fairmont: Lincoln Becker 1-4 rbi, Zach Jorgensen 2-4 r, Jack Kosbad 3-4 r rbi sb, Nate Soelter 1-4 r rbi-2, Jackson Utermarck 1-3 r bb, Cooper Steuber 2-4 r rbi-2, Levi Pooley 2-3 2b r rbi bb sb, Landen Meyerdirk 1-3 r rbi-2 bb, Eli Anderson 0-3 r bb, Gavin Rodning 0-2 r

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Paynesville: Nelson 4.2-8-8-8-2-2, Bennett Evans 0-1-1-1-2-0, Wendlandt (W) 2.1-4-0-0-0-3 ... Fairmont: Jacob Crissinger 4-9-6-2-1-2, Meyerdirk 1-3-2-2-0-0, Anderson (L) 2-4-2-2-0-2

Connor Barker tossed a four-hitter to help keep Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City alive in the playoffs with the win over Luverne at Legion Field in Marshall

Barker struck out five and walked three. He allowed one earned run. He also went 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI.

The Falcons scored all three of their runs in the fifth inning to eliminate a 2-0 deficit.

Riley Sneller was 2-for-3 with an RBI for Luverne.

ACGC faces Fairmont in an elimination game at 7 p.m. Tuesday back at Legion Field. The winner plays Paynesville for the section championship Thursday at a site to be determined.

ACGC 000 030 0-3 5 0

Luverne 010 100 0-2 4 0

Hitting — ACGC: Logan Straumann 1-4, Jack Peterson 1-4 r rbi, Connor Barker 2-3 rbi-2, Terrell Renne 1-3, Keegan Kessler-Gross 0-2 r, Jaxon Drange 0-3 r ... Luverne: Connor Overgaard 1-3 r-2, Riley Sneller 2-3 rbi, Haden Anderson 1-4, Will Serie 0-3 rbi

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — ACGC: Barker (W) 7-4-2-1-3-5 ... Luverne: Anderson (L) 6-4-3-3-1-4, Casey Sehr 1-1-0-0-0-1

Glencoe-Silver Lake defeated Litchfield in a Section 5AA elimination game to end the Dragons' 2022 campaign.

Senior Daniel Estrada and junior Connor Taber each went 1-for-3 and scored a run for the Dragons.

Estrada's senior counterpart, Beau Weseloh, also went 1-for-3 with a double.

Relief pitchers junior Bradley Larson and sophomore Hunter Schultz combined for 2.1 innings pitched while holding Glencoe-Silver Lake's batters to three hits and zero earned runs.

G-SL 105 030 0-9 14 2

Litchfield 000 011 0-2 5 2

Hitting — G-SL: Spencer Lemke 1-3 r bb sb-2, Beau Lepel 1-4 r bb, Caden Lang 2-4 r-2 rbi bb, Brady Graupmann 3-4 r rbi-3, Logan Christensen 3-4 2b r rbi-3, Jacob Baumgarten 2-2 bb-2, Luke Roepke 1-4 rbi, Braxton Streich 1-3 r bb sb-2, Carter Ruschmeier 0-2 r-2 bb-2 sb ... Litchfield: Hunter Schultz 1-3, Daniel Estrada 1-3 r, Beau Weseloh 1-3 2b, Connor Taber 1-3 r, Calvin Jones 1-3

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — G-SL: Graupmann (W) 7-5-2-0-0-5 ... Litchfield: Owen Carlson (L) 4.2-11-9-9-6-4, Bradley Larson 1.1-3-0-0-0-0, Schultz 1-0-0-0-2-1