Red Lake County Baseball beats South Ridge 4-3, advances to State Championship on Monday

The Red Lake County Rebel Baseball team scored a run in the bottom of the sixth inning with Dawson Erickson and Gunnar Broden getting base hits, and the Rebels beat the South Ridge Panthers 4-3 in the semi-finals of the State Class A Baseball tournament at Faber Field in St. Cloud.

FIRST INNING-
South Ridge’s Parker Morse singled with one out for the first hit of the game. After a flyout, Morse tried to steal second base, and Colin Taggart threw a laser to second base, right on the money for the third out of the inning.
Red Lake County’s Will Gieseke and Ben Gullingsrud started the bottom of the inning with a pair of singles. Taggart had a sacrifice fly to right field, and Gieseke tagged up and took third on the play. Gunnar Halvorsen hit a ground ball to the shortstop, and he bobbled the ball, and Gieseke scored on the play while Gullingsrud reached second.

SECOND INNING-
South Ridge’s Blake Olson hit a hard ground ball to third base and reached on an error before Sam Pretasky doubled. With runners at second and third base, Peyton Sivongsay knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game at 1-1. The Panthers’ Head Coach, Aaron Weber, called for a suicide squeeze, and Kingsley Archambault laid down the bunt, and the run scored as Red Lake County was forced to get the out at first base, and South Ridge led 2-1.
Red Lake County was retired in 1-2-3 fashion with two strikeouts and a groundout.

THIRD INNING –
South Ridge was retired in 1-2-3 fashion with two strikeouts and a groundout.
Red Lake County’s Gieseke led off with a walk, and Gullingsrud was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Halverson walked to load the bases. Riley Broden laid down a bunt, and the pitcher bobbled the ball, and a run scored to tie the game at 2-2. After a strikeout, Cain Cardinal walked with bases loaded to give the Rebels a 3-2 lead.

FOURTH INNING-
South Ridge was retired in 1-2-3 fashion with a strikeout, a popout, and a groundout.
Red Lake County’s Gieseke was hit by a pitch with one out before the next two batters were retired, and the Rebels took a 3-2 lead into the fifth inning.

FIFTH INNING-
South Ridge’s Archambault started the inning with a triple to the right-center field gap. The next batter popped out to shallow left field. Rebel Coach Mike Gullingsrud came out to the mound to talk to his infield to look out for another suicide squeeze. The Rebels were ready as the runner on third took off and Ben Gullingsrud threw the pitch outside. The Rebels had the runner at third caught in a run down, but the throw to the third baseman was dropped, and the run scored to tie the game at 3-3.
Red Lake County was retired in 1-2-3 fashion with a strikeout, a pop fly, and a lineout.

SIXTH INNING-
South Ridge was retired in 1-2-3 fashion with a strikeout and two groundouts to second base.
Red Lake County’s Dawson Erickson singled with one out, and Gunnar Broden followed with a chopper that died about 10 feet from home plate down the third baseline and Broden flew down the first baseline to beat the throw for an infield single. With runners at first and third base, Gieseke hit a ground ball to the shortstop. Erickson took off towards home on contact and slid into home plate to beat the tag on a bang-bang play at home to take a 4-3 lead.

SEVENTH INNING
Red Lake County needed three outs to advance to the state championship. The leadoff batter walked before the next batter hit a groundball to third base. Riley Broden fielded the ball and got the out at first base. The next batter struck out. With a runner at second base and two outs, the next batter hit a chopper to the third baseman, and once again, Riley Broden was ready. He charged the ball and threw to first base, where Boe Nelson caught the ball for the third out of the inning, and the Rebels won 4-3 as they threw their hats and gloves into the air, and the celebration began.

Red Lake County improves to 27-2 on the year and will take on the winner of Madelia and Murray County Central in the Class A State Championship on Monday at 10:00 AM. South Ridge drops to 23-6 on the year and will play the loser of Madelia and Murray County Central Friday afternoon.