Baseball roundup: 'It's unbelievable': BBE Jaguars are state bound

Jun. 6—GLENWOOD — Tuesday was a day of unfamiliar territory for Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa.

Instead of using late-game dramatics to score a comeback win, like its previous three games, the Jaguars had to hang onto a lead in the Section 6A championship baseball game against Parkers Prairie.

BBE did just that, securing a 4-2 win at Marthaler Field and putting the school in uncharted territory: the state tournament.

"It's unbelievable," said senior Tate DeKok as he struggled to find the words. "(We're) making history."

For the first time in school history, the Jaguars (13-11) are headed to the Class A state tournament. Seeds will be announced Saturday and first-round games take place Tuesday at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud.

"It feels nice where we're trying to keep a lead instead of always having to rely on making a comeback," said BBE first-year head coach Ben Klaphake. "But gosh, we can't make anything easy. We had to walk a few guys and give up a few hits.

"The cardiac kids, they live for these big moments. Man, we have some people step up today."

Parkers Prairie entered the championship game off a 3-2 victory over defending section champ New York Mills in an elimination game.

In the first inning, the Jaguars rattled off three straight two-out doubles, including one by Luke Dingmann that scored Tanner Shelton. Dingmann tried to score another run after an Ethan Mueller double, only to be thrown out by Panthers' center fielder Dylan Debilzen.

Parkers Prairie (19-7) couldn't score a run through three innings against BBE starting pitcher Talen Kampsen. But in the top of the fourth, the Panthers loaded the bases with no outs. DeKok came to the mound to get out of the pickle.

"Just throw strikes," DeKok said. "I got a good defense behind me. Just throw it in there and let them hit it and the guys behind me will do the job for me."

DeKok snagged a grounder by Zach Mrnak that set up a 1-2-3 double play. The next batter, Mason Boesl, hit an RBI single to left field to tie the game. But like BBE in the first inning, a second run for Parkers Prairie proved elusive. Left fielder Hayden Sobiech corralled the ball and threw it home to Mueller, who tagged out Cohen Noska for the final out.

"Tate's been put in that position many times this year and he's been a guy where it's been damage control," Klaphake said. "Bases loaded, no outs, this can go south really fast, and he got a ground ball back at him, throws home to sophomore Ethan Mueller. He fires it down to first, double play. Then another sophomore in Hayden, he comes off the one-hop and guns the guy out at home and we're out of the inning."

"Just those big plays saved us," Klaphake added. "There's a few jams where they had runners in scoring position and we got out of it."

Still looking for his words, DeKok praised his defense. "It's unbelievable. The guys behind me worked their butts off every day to do this. And they did it."

BBE's offense broke through in the bottom of the sixth with three runs. Sobiech scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Luke Illies scored on a Brett DeRoo single. An error by the shortstop allowed Ryan Jensen to reach home for a 4-1 lead.

The Jaguars put up 10 hits, with Shelton, Sobiech and Illies each collecting a pair of hits.

""Everybody on this team wants to get that game-winning hit," said Illies, who went 2-for-3. "To see every person 1-through-9 stand up and get it done, it's really crazy."

Two outs away from a state berth, DeKok got into a jam following back-to-back walks. Klaphake called on Illies to close the door.

"I got the utmost confidence in Luke," Klaphake said. "He just throws strikes. He's got a nice curveball. He spots his fastball. ... He's kind of been that guy where in the moment, him and Tate, we have full trust in them. We know that when they come in, it's game time."

DeKok got the win after tossing 3-1/3 innings of relief. Illies let his defense do the work while getting the two-out save.

First baseman Casey Lenarz fielded a grounder and stepped on the bag for the final out. The celebration was on for the newly crowned Jaguars.

"It's incredible; It's one of those things you dream of your whole life and it finally happens," Illies said. "It's surreal. Wow, we actually did that."

PP 000 100 1-2 6 2

BBE 100 003 x-4 10 1

Hitting — PP: Dylan Debilzen 2-4 2b, Daniel Revering 2-4 rbi, Joe Johnson 0-2 r bb, Cohen Noska 1-2 hbp, Mason Boesl 1-3 rbi, Shane Hanson 0-2 r bb ... BBE: Brett DeRoo 1-4 rbi, Tanner Shelton 2-2 2b r bb, Luke Dingmann 1-3 2b rbi, Ethan Mueller 1-3 2b, Hayden Sobiech 2-2 r sac, Luke Illies 2-3 r, Ryan Jensen 1-2 r bb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — PP: Holden Traux (L) 6-10-4-3-2-2 ... BBE: Talen Kampsen 3-2-1-1-1-1, Tate DeKok (W) 3.1-3-1-1-2-1, Illies (Sv) 0.2-1-0-0-0-0

Fairmont eliminated Paynesville from the Section 3AA tournament with the victory at Legion Field in Marshall.

The Cardinals, the top seed in 1AA-South, scored five times in the fifth inning after Paynesville scored three times in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.

Esau Nelson went 2-for-3 and Brayden VanderBeek was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs for the Bulldogs, who were the top seed in 1AA-North.

Fairmont advances to the championship bracket to play Luverne at 5 p.m. Thursday in Jackson. Luverne, the 1AA-South's second seed, is unbeaten. A second game Thursday follows if needed.

Fairmont 001 050 0-6 9 1

Paynesville 000 300 0-3 8 1

Hitting — Fairmont: Landen Meyerdirk 2-3 2b bb, Lincoln Becker 2-3 r-2 bb, Nate Soelter 1-4 r, Jack Kosbab 0-3 r bb, Cooper Steuber 1-4 r rbi-2, Brendan Schmidtke 1-3 2b r rbi bb, Levi Pooley 1-3 rbi, Josh Soelter 1-2 rbi bb ... Paynesville: Grayson Fuchs 1-4 rbi, Austin Pauls 1-4, Spencer Eisenbraun 1-3, Esau Nelson 2-3 r, Bryce VanderBeek 1-3 rbi, Brayden VanderBeek 2-3 2b rbi-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Fairmont: Schmidtke 3.1-5-3-1-1-2, Becker (W) 3.2-3-0-0-1-0 ... Paynesville: Fuchs (L) 4.1-6-6-5-5-5, Isaac Lieser 2.2-3-0-0-0-2

And the eighth-seeded Litchfield Dragons remain alive in the playoffs after knocking off Breck at Fritz Field in Cologne.

The Dragons grabbed a 6-0 lead after two innings to hold on and beat the sixth-seeded Mustangs.

Caden Besemer went 2-for-3 with two runs, a walk and an RBI for Litchfield. Hunter Schultz was 2-for-4. He also got the pitching win, going six innings. He struck out eight, walked two and allowed seven hits and four runs. Owen Carlson pitched the seventh to earn the save, striking out one and walking two.

Thomas Belman was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a run and an RBI for Breck.

Litchfield advances to the Section 5AA championship bracket to face Holy Family Catholic at 5 p.m. Thursday at Cologne. The Fire beat the the Dragons 6-4 Monday to stay unbeaten. A second game, if needed, follows.

Litchfield 420 000 0-6 9 2

Breck 003 001 0-4 7 2

Hitting — Litchfield: Jack McCann 1-4, Calvin Jones 0-3 r-2 bb, Caden Besemer 2-3 r-2 rbi bb, Connor Taber 1-2 r hbp, Anthony Estrada 1-3 rbi-2 bb, Bradley Larson 1-4 r rbi, Jaxon Marquardt 1-4 rbi, Hunter Schultz 2-4 ... Breck: Max Aronson 1-4 r, Nate Miller 1-4 r sb, Thomas Belman 2-3 2b r rbi bb, Ray Della Lana 1-1 rbi-2 bb hbp, Garrett Trench 1-4 3b r, Liam Cavanaugh 1-3 rbi

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Litchfield: Schultz (W) 6-7-4-4-2-8, Owen Carlson (Sv) 1-0-0-0-2-1 ... Breck: Trench (L) 7-9-6-6-3-4