The Sacred Heart Eagles Baseball team scored in five of the six innings and beat the South Ridge Panthers (Section 7 champ) 10-4 in the first round of the Minnesota State High School League State Class A Baseball tournament at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. Â
FIRST INNING –
Sam Gapp and the Sacred Heart defense set the tone to start the game as Gapp struck out the first batter, got the second batter to ground out to third base, and the third batter grounded out to first base for a 1-2-3 inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Sacred Heart also set the tone. Â Cullen Rohrich led off with a single. Â Parker Erickson had a sacrifice bunt to move Rohrich to second base. Â Sam Gapp helped his cause with an rbi single for a 1-0 lead. After a strikeout, Nick Brundin blasted a line drive to the right-center field gap for an rbi triple, and the Eagles led 2-0 through one inning of play.
SECOND INNING –Â
Gapp and the Eagle defense retired South Ridge in 1-2-3 fashion in the inning.Â
In the bottom of the inning, Sacred Heart freshman catcher David Larson singled with one out. Â Rohrich walked, and the runners advanced to second and third base on a passed ball. Â Erickson singled to score a run and stole second base. Â Sam Gapp hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score another run for a 4-0 lead. Â Ethan Arntson singled in a run for a 5-0 lead through two innings.Â
THIRD INNING –Â
South Ridge finally got their first hit of the game in the third inning when Aydin Archambault hit a solo home run over the left-center field fence to bring the Panthers within a 5-1 deficit.
Sacred Heart got a two-out rally going in the bottom of the inning when Breck Bloom doubled, David Larson walked, and Rohrich singled to score a run for a 6-1 lead.Â
FOURTH INNING-
South Ridge had their first big offensive inning when Kaden Lane led off with a single, Wyatt Olson walked, and Carter Anderson singled to load the bases with nobody out. Â Aaron Bennett singled to score two runs, and Anderson scored on a passed ball to get within a 6-4 deficit.Â
As they have done all season long, Sacred Heart had an answer with Same Gapp leading off with a single, Arntson reached on an error, and Nick Brundin walked to load the bases with nobody out. Â The next batter struck out, but Isaac Zavoral and Breck Bloom drew back-to-back walks to score two runs for an 8-4 lead. Â After the second out of the inning, Rohrich singled to score another run for a 9-4 lead.Â
FIFTH INNING
Sacred Heart added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Arntson doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Â Brundin singled to score Arntson for a 10-4 lead. Â
SIXTH INNING –Â
South Ridge had runners at first and third base with two outs, but Gapp struck out the next batter to get out of the jam.Â
Sacred Heart’s Bloom singled, but that was all the Eagles could muster in the bottom of the inning, and they led 10-4 going into the final inning.Â
SEVENTH INNING –Â
Ethan Arntson came in to pitch the seventh inning for Sacred Heart and retired all three batters he faced, and Sacred Heart won the game 10-4 to advance to the semi-finals on Wednesday.
Sacred Heart improves to 22-3 on the year and will play the #1 ranked and #1 seed, defending State Champion Hayfield, on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. Â KROX Radio will have the pre-game show at 10:30 a.m.
South Ridge drops to 17-8 on the year and will play New Ulm Cathedral at 10:00 a.m. in the consolation semi-finals.Â
For Coach Paul Bethke’s comments, click below.Â
| Box Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| South Ridge | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| Sacred Heart | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | 10 | 13 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Sam Gapp – SH | 6.0 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Ethan Arntson – SH | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Aaron Bennett – SR | 0.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Wyatt Olson – SR | 5.1 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 8 |
For Sacred Heart –
Cullen Rohrich – 3 for 4, 2 runs, 2 rbi, walk, stolen base
Sam Gapp – 2 for 3, 2 runs, 2 rbi, 2 stolen bases
Nick Brundin – 2 for 3, 2 rbi, run, triple
Breck Bloom – 2 for 3, rbi, run, double
Ethan Arntson – 2 for 4, 2 runs, rbi, double
For South Ridge –
Aydin Archambault – 2 for 2, run, rbi, home run, walk
Aaron Bennett – 1 for 3, 2 rbi,Â
