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Town ball tourney breakdown: Games to watch in Central Minnesota this weekend

brian mozey, st. cloud times
·4 min read

The stage is set for the region baseball tournaments as the league playoffs finished up last weekend. The Central Minnesota teams are in three different regions and each region will have its top four teams reach the Class C state tournament in the middle of August.

There will be some great matchups this weekend to start region play as teams get closer and closer to the state tournament and the competition increases.

Region 8C consists of both Victory League North/East and Victory League South/West. Region 11C will have the Sauk Valley League and Central Valley League North. Finally, Region 15C will consist of the Stearns County League and Central Valley South.

There will be 12 games among these three different regions to start the weekend, but here's a few matchups to watch for these next few days.

Region 8C

Foley vs. St. Stephen

St. Stephen comes into the region tournament as the No. 2 seed for Victory League South/West, while Foley is the No. 3 seed in the Victory League North/East. This matchup will be an exciting one as both teams are on a roll right now.

The Steves were dominant in the first couple rounds of the league tournament. St. Stephen won 17-0 over Swanville and 11-5 over Freeport in the first two rounds before losing 10-3 to Avon.

This team has scored 31 runs in the last three games, which averages out to double-digit runs per game. This trajectory will need to continue for St. Stephen against Foley, who's been able to stop scoring.

Mitch Keeler of the Foley Lumberjacks makes a catch at first as Andrew Deters runs during the game Friday, July 31, 2020, at St. Cloud Orthopedics Field in Sartell.
Mitch Keeler of the Foley Lumberjacks makes a catch at first as Andrew Deters runs during the game Friday, July 31, 2020, at St. Cloud Orthopedics Field in Sartell.

The Lumberjacks' defense and pitching over the last three games have been strong, allowing only three runs in three games. Foley won 8-1 over St. Mathias, 5-0 over Fort Ripley and 5-2 over Buckman to close out the league playoffs.

St. Stephen will need to jump on the scoreboard early to stay confident throughout the game, while Foley will be looking to keep the Steves at zero in the beginning to control the momentum of the game.

Region 11C

St. Joseph vs. Clearwater

These two teams have different mindsets heading into the region tournament. St. Joseph is the No. 4 seed from the Sauk Valley League and had a tough league tournament these past couple weekends.

Clearwater is the No. 2 seed from Sauk Valley and the Rivercats have a lot of confidence and momentum heading into region play.

St. Joseph was the No. 1 seed for the Sauk Valley West going into league playoffs and ended up losing in the semifinals to Clearwater 5-4 in 12 innings. Earlier in July, the Joes also lost 9-4 to the Rivercats in the regular season.

St. Joseph Joes starting pitcher Tanner Aleshire delivers a pitch during a Sauk Valley League playoff game against the Rogers Red Devils Saturday, July 23, 2022, in St. Joseph.
St. Joseph Joes starting pitcher Tanner Aleshire delivers a pitch during a Sauk Valley League playoff game against the Rogers Red Devils Saturday, July 23, 2022, in St. Joseph.

After this semifinal loss, the Joes lost to Monticello to receive the No. 4 seed. Clearwater had some key wins against the Sartell Stone Poneys and St. Joseph in the league playoffs to reach the championship game. Ultimately, the Rivercats came up short against the Sartell Muskies, but there's plenty of balance being shown in Clearwater's game.

There's a saying in high school sports that it's hard to beat a team three times in a season. This applies to Clearwater this weekend when this team battles the Joes because it'll take that balance in offense, defense and pitching to win for that third time.

Region 15C

New Munich vs. St. Martin

St. Martin comes into the region playoffs as the No. 1 seed from Stearns County South, while New Munich will be the No. 2 seed from Stearns County North.

Over Memorial Day weekend, St. Martin pulled off a close 3-1 win over New Munich. It took some timely hitting and proficient base running as the Martins only had four hits in the game.

Scott Lieser started for St. Martin and pitched eight innings as St. Martin defeated Cold Spring 9-1 at Cold Spring Baseball Park on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021.
Scott Lieser started for St. Martin and pitched eight innings as St. Martin defeated Cold Spring 9-1 at Cold Spring Baseball Park on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021.

On the flip side, St. Martin's Scott Lieser was dominant on the mound, pitching a complete game and allowing one run with four hits and striking out 15 batters.

In its two league playoffs games, St. Martin had close victories with a 6-2 win over Lake Henry and 6-3 win over Richmond. The Martins will need to use that ability to win tight games for the region tournament.

New Munich also won a close 3-1 game against Spring Hill in the league playoffs, but lost 5-2 to Elrosa in the championship. This team will need to learn from its game against Spring Hill to capitalize and stay in the winner's bracket this weekend.

Brian Mozey is the high school sports reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-255-8772 or bmozey@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianMozey.

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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Games to watch in Central Minnesota town ball tournaments this weekend