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CROOKSTON REDS ADVANCE TO STATE FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1999

The Crookston Reds Amateur Baseball team hasn’t made the state amateur baseball tournament in 17 years, but that all changed on Saturday afternoon when the Reds beat the Moorhead Miners 3-2 in 10 innings in the semi-finals of the region tournament to earn their first state tournament appearance since 1999.

In the championship game, #1 seed Bemidji beat Crookston 7-3, but the Reds still advance to the Minnesota Class C State Amateur Baseball tournament in Green Isle on Saturday (August 19) at 7:00 p.m. against the third place team from Region 12. You can hear the state game on KROX.

SEMI-FINAL GAME-

Moorhead scored the first run of the game, in the bottom of the first inning for an early 1-0 lead.  Crookston responded in the top of the second inning with a leadoff single by Rob Silvers, who advanced to second base on a wild pitch and came into score on an error to tie the game at 1-1.  Both pitchers were on top of their game as the two teams combined for a total of 17 hits in the game, but Moorhead was able to score another run in the sixth inning for a 2-1 lead.  It looked like Crookston was in trouble going into the ninth inning, trailing by one run, but the Reds found a way to tie the game.  The lead off batter in the ninth inning flew out to center field, but Noah Zimmerman singled, advanced to second base on an error and moved over to third base on a wild pitch and the tying run was 90 feet away.  Zimmerman came into score on a Matt Morin fly to right field and the game was tied at 2-2.  Moorhead had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, but went down in order.

In the top of the 10th inning, the Crookston leadoff batter flew out to first base, but Adam Burgess drew a walk and stole second base to put the go ahead run in scoring position.  The next batter popped up to the short stop for the second out of the inning, but recent Crookston High School graduate, Tanner Reinhart, singled to score Burgess from second and the Reds had their first lead of the game at 3-2.  In the bottom of the 10th inning, Moorhead flew out to right field for the first out and the next two batters flew out to center field and the Reds won the game 3-2 to advance to the state tournament for the first time since 1999.  Crookston’s Sean Minder pitched the complete game, 10 inning eight hitter to pick up the win on the mound.

Crookston improves to 12-16 on the year and advance to the region championship game.

Semi-finals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Crookston Reds 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 9 2
Moorhead 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 8 3

For Crookston
Noah Zimmerman – 2-4, run

Rob Silvers – 2-5
Tanner Reinhart – 1-5, Game winning rbi

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

The #1 seed Bemidji Blue Ox proved to be too much for the Crookston Reds in the championship game as Bemidji won 7-3 in a game played in Bemidji. The Blue Ox used the outstanding pitching of soon to be UMC Golden Eagle Baseball player Ben Thoma, a Bagley High School product, who pitched seven innings of four hit ball to beat Crookston.

Bemidji scored two runs on three hits in the second inning and added three more runs in the third for a 5-0 lead.  Crookston finally got on the board in the seventh inning when Lars Brevik walked, Noah Zimmerman singled and Brevik scored on a ground out and the Reds trailed 5-1.  Bemidji responded with a run in the bottom of the seventh to regain a five run lead at 6-1.

Crookston battled in the eighth inning when Adam Burgess was hit by a pitch, Aaron Hollcraft and Tanner Reinhart singled and Burgess scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Rob Silvers to cut the deficit to 6-2.  Bemidji answered with another run in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 7-2 lead.

Crookston led off the ninth inning with a single from Zimmerman who advanced to third on an error and scored on a ground out and the Reds trailed 7-3 with two outs.  The next batter was retired and Bemidji won the championship and Crookston finished runner-up and both teams advance to the state amateur tournament.

Crookston drops to 12-17 on the year and will play in the first round of the state tournament on Saturday, August 19 at 7:00 p.m. at Green Isle.   KROX will have all the Reds state tournament games on the radio and online.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Crookston Reds 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 8 1
Bemidji Blue Ox 0 2 3 0 0 0 1 1 7 10 0

For Crookston
Aaron Hollcraft – 2-2, walk, hit by pitch

Rob Silvers – 2-4

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