Hayfield holds off New Ulm Cathedral in state baseball quarterfinals

Jun. 14—ST. CLOUD — The plan almost backfired, but No. 1 seed Hayfield held on to nip New Ulm Cathedral 5-4 in the Class A baseball state quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The Vikings appeared on the verge of cruising to victory as they built a 5-0 lead after three innings with Easton Fritcher hitting a two-run triple in the second.

Nolan Klocke held New Ulm hitless through three innings and allowed two hits and one run before being pulled with one out in the sixth inning after throwing 74 pitches. The plan was to hold Klocke under 75 pitches in the game.

"We're trying to win the state tournament and we thought our best chance to win the state tournament was to have Nolan available again later in the tournament," Hayfield coach Kasey Kreckling said.

The Vikings will have Klocke for later in the tourney, as they hung on in the quarterfinals. But it was tense.

Karver Heydt got the two outs to close out the sixth inning. He had two outs with one runner on base in the seventh, but he couldn't get the third out. A walked, hit by pitch and error allowed two runs to score and Heydt departed with a 3-0 count on the next hitter and the score 5-3.

"He did great until we needed one out (to win the game)," Kreckling said. "We had two outs in the seventh and all of a sudden the wheels fell off."

The left-handed Fritcher came on in relief, walked the hitter with a 3-0 count to load the bases. Krekling then issued an intentional walk to Sam Knowles to force in a run to make the score 5-4.

"He already hit three missiles and the other guy had struck out twice," Krekling said of his strategy. Krekling also had confidence in Fritcher on the mound and Klocke,who had moved behind the plate to catch.

With the bases still loaded, Fritcher struck out the next hitter to save the game and move Hayfield to the state semifinals at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

"We come here to win and that's what we did," Fritcher said. "The tension started to build in the end, but we had some guys ready to throw."

Hayfield has been in plenty of tense situations lately in boys sports. The Vikings are the defending Class A state baseball champions and they had to rally past New York Mills in the state title game a year ago. Hayfield has won two straight Class A boys basketball state titles and four baseball starters started on last season's basketball team.

"We've had a ton of experience in these games the last couple of years," Fritcher said. "And experience is everything in anything you do. And we are used to moments like this, games that are close."

By staying at 75 pitches, Klocke can now come back and throw a full 115 pitches on Friday if the Vikings (23-2) advance to the state title game at Target Field in Minneapolis.

"We knew coming into this game that that's what our plan was and we executed," Klocke said.

The right-hander earned the win as he allowed one earned run on two hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"It wasn't my best day for sure ... but I still executed all the pitches," he said. "Threw the curveball and fastball for strikes and that just carried us through all those 75 pitches."

Kobe Foster went 3-for-3 with two doubles for Hayfield at the plate and Fritcher reached all four times with a triple, hit by pitch and two intentional walks. Aidan Nelson was 2-for-4 with an RBI. The Vikings finished with seven hits.

"It feels good we survived, we just have to go on to the next round," Fritcher said.

Fritcher will start on the mound in the state semifinals when the Vikings take on No. 4 seed Sacred Heart (22-3). Fritcher, a University of Minnesota commit, was very limited on the mound during the regular season due to a groin injury. But he has recovered and made two starts during section play. Heydt will again be Hayfield's primary relief pitcher, if needed, in the semifinals.

Hayfield boxscore:

https://www.mshsl.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/2022%20BaB%20A%20QF%20Hay%20NUC.pdf