The Crookston Reds ran into a very difficult opponent and were unable to advance past the Belle Plaine Tigers falling 12-2 in the first round of the Minnesota Class C State Amateur Baseball Tournament at Joe Schleper Stadium in Shakopee.
A pitcher’s duel shaped the complexion of the game early on with Crookston’s Sean Minder starting on the mound and tossing three scoreless innings to start the game including double plays to end both the second and third innings. Belle Plaine took control of the game in the fourth inning with an offensive outpouring. The Tigers put together eight hits in a row after a lead-off walk. With the bases loaded Derek Dahlke drove home a run with a base hit before Pat Schultz dropped in a two-run scoring single giving Belle Plaine a 3-0 lead. Tyler O’Brien plated another run before Aiden Ladd concluded the fourth inning rally with a two-out double giving the Tigers a 6-0 lead after four innings. Belle Plaine added two more runs in the fifth inning with a walk followed by a rbi double and sacrifice groundout pushing the Tigers’ lead to 8-0. Crookston scraped its only two runs across in the sixth inning. Noah Zimmerman and Taylor Kenfield singled and doubled to start the inning with two runners in scoring position. Bailey Schmitz hit into a groundout scoring Zimmerman before Cody Wardner reached on a fielder’s choice that plated Kenfield cutting the deficit to 8-2. Belle Plaine took one run back with a solo home run hit by Derek Dahlke before adding three more runs in the top of the ninth inning to close out the 12-2 win. “Missing the five big bats at the top of the order, we were putting guys in who hadn’t necessarily swung the bat much over the past few weeks,” explained Reds player/manager Rob Silvers. “I thought the guys played a lot better here than we did last year. You could see the maturity in this state tournament. We made fewer errors, took better approaches at the plate so there were a lot of positive things to take away for the players that were playing in this game.”
The Reds end their season with a record of 23-17 and a second straight state tournament appearance. Belle Plaine improves to 21-8 and advances to the second round of the State tournament next Sunday at 7:30 PM in New Prague against Kimball.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Belle Plaine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 1 |
| Crookston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Sean Minder – Crox | 3.2 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Justin Coste – Crox | 3.1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Lars Brevik – Crox | 2.0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
For Crookston
Lars Brevik – 2-3
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