Londale Aces in baseball state tournament; St. Patrick still alive in Region 6C tourney

The Lonsdale Aces baseball team of the Red Division of the D-R-S League gained a berth in the state Class C baseball tourney with a bye and two wins during the past week in Region 6C tourney action.

Lonsdale will play on Saturday, Aug. 20 in a state tourney game at Dassel, at either 5:00 or 7:30 p.m., depending on the results of the region finals.

St. Patrick, the other D-R-S league entry in the tournament, remained alive in the double elimination tourney as of Wednesday of this week. The Irish were to meet Waconia at Elko Wednesday night. If St. Patrick wins on Wednesday night they will play Friday night at New Richland. If Waconia wins, New Richland will play at Waconia.

Friday’s winner will play at Lonsdale Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in the finals to determine #1 and #2 seed in the state tourney. If a second game is necessary, it would follow the first game. Only one admission will be charged.

The Region 6C results last week:

Wed., Aug. 3

Arlington 8, Lake Crystal 2

The Arlington A’s defeated Lake Crystal 8-2 in a first round game at Arlington.

St. Patrick 5, Waconia 4

A great relief pitching effort by righthander Bill Dunker saved the game for St. Patrick as he pitched to five batters in 12/3 innings, getting all of them out as the Irish edged the Waconia Lakers of the Carver Central League, 5-4, in an opening round game at Elko.

St. Patrick scored five runs in the second inning and led 5-0 through the seventh when Waconia batted in the eighth and had five consecutive hits, a fielder’s choice and another hit to score four and have two runners on with one out. Enter Dunker and he got the next two batters out and retired all three in the ninth.

In the second inning, a walk after one out and four consecutive singles by Matt Ambroz, Paul Tisdel, Josh Simon and Mike Goldsmith scored two Irish runs, an infield grounder by Wade Schuknecht and an error scored two more and a single by Matt Pexa drove in the fifth run.

Waconia opened the eighth with singles by Dana Hegman and Rob Wagener, an RBI double by Andrew Fredrickson, RBI singles by Josh Brandenburg and Noah Waterhouse, a fielder’s choice and a run-scoring single by Chris Bullis before the pitching change.

St. Patrick was outhit but the unearned runs in the second helped make up the difference. Goldsmith hit two singles for the Irish.

Hegman and Waterhouse had two hits apiece for Waconia.

The line score: R H E

Waconia Lakers ....................000 000 040 - 4 9 2

St. Patrick Irish .....................050 000 00x - 5 8 1

Rob Wagener, Darren Culbert (6), Eric Hamilton (7) and Andrew Fredrickson. Keith Sticha, Josh Simon (7), Bill Dunker (71/3) and Matt Pexa.

Fri., Aug. 5

New Richland 6, St. Patrick 0

St. Patrick’s Tom Kreuser pitched a good game for the Irish at New Richland for five innings but a single, interference call and an error cost two runs in the sixth inning to break a 0-0 tie, and New Richland, the 13-60 Blue champion, went on to take a 6-0 win.

The next inning opened with an error, and after two out, Tony Schlaak and Sam Hintz both singled, another run scoring, and Luke Routh hit a two-run triple making it 5-0.

A hit batter, single, fielder’s choice, walk and an error allowed the final run in the ninth.

New Richland’s Vinnie Van Engelenburg pitched a three-hitter, allowing only singles by Matt Pexa, Josh Simon and Mike Goldsmith.

Schlaak and Hintz had two hits each for the Reds.

The line score: R H E

St. Patrick Irish.....................000 000 000 - 0 3 3

New Richland Reds..............000 002 31x - 6 9 2

Tom Kreuser, Brett Hoffman (81/3) and Matt Pexa. Vinnie Van Engelenburg and Jason Churchill.

Lonsdale 5, Arlington 4

Tom Popp and Brad Vosejpka led the Lonsdale batters as the Aces defeated the Arlington A’s, 5-4.

Tom batted three for four, including a third inning RBI double and a solo homer in the seventh, which was the game winner.

Brad had three hits in five at bats and drove in three runs. He hit a run-scoring double in the first innng and singled in the third inning to score Chad Vosejpka, who had opened with a double. Brad then came around on a double by Popp.

In the fifth inning, Kyle Kalina tripled and scored on a single by Brad Vosejpka.

Scott Dose doubled in the first to drive in Arlington’s first run.

In the fourth, Arlington regained the lead temporarily at 4-3 with three runs. A walk and an error preceded a run-scoring single by Paul Pichelman. James Van Buskirk singled for another run and the third scored with the help of a fielder’s choice.

Steve Weiers, draftee from St. Benedict, was the winning pitcher in relief.

The line score: R H E

Arlington A’s.......................100 300 000 - 4 6 0

Lonsdale Aces.....................102 010 10x - 5 8 1

Scott Dose and Chad Dose. Kevin Kalina, Steve Weiers (31/3) and Tom Popp.

Sunday, Aug. 7

Lonsdale 10, New Richland 9

The Aces rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning in a comeback win at New Richland as they defeated the Reds 10-9 to gain a berth in the state tourney.

Chad Hoffman singled with one out, Derek Vosejpka was hit by a pitch, Kevin Kalina doubled for two runs to tie it a 9-9 and Chad Vosejpka hit a two-out single for the winning run.

Hoffman was the winning pitcher in relief, coming on in the eighth inning, and retired six of the eight batters he faced, two by strikeout.

Chad Vosejpka, Tom Popp, and Kevin Kalina had two hits each for the Aces. Chad hit a run-scoring triple, Popp drove in two runs with a single and double and Kevin hit two doubles.

Jason Churchill and Seth Tukla hit doubles for New Richland and had two hits each. Vinnie Van Engelenburg and Luke Routh hit two singles each.

Half of the Reds hits were in the fifth inning when eight men batted and five scored.

The line score: R H E

Lonsdale Aces...................102 100 213 - 10 9 2

New Richland Reds...........000 051 300 - 9 12 4

Brian Vosejpka, Kevin Kalina (41/3), Chad Hoffman (8) and Jake Lucas. Tony Schlaak, Aaron Gilliland, Josh Churchill and Jason Churchill.

Waconia 8, Lake Crystal 3

Lake Crystal was defeated 8-3 by the Waconia Lakers and dropped out of contention in the region tourney.

St. Patrick 7, Arlington 5

A ninth-inning rally which produced four runs carried the Irish to a 7-5 win at Arlington and bumped the A’s out of the tournament.

Mike Goldsmith singled to open the inning. After an out, John Johnson walked and Matt Pexa singled to load the bases. Jeff Bjerke and Craig Boser both drew walks to force in two runs and tie it at 5-5 and Matt Ambroz singled up the middle for the game-winning hit and two more runs. All St. Patrick hits were singles.

Arlington’s leading batters wee Chad Dose, who tripled in a run in the third inning, and Brian Walters, who doubled in two runs in the seventh inning.

Bill Dunker pitched the distance to get the win for St. Patrick.

The line score: R H E

St. Patrick Irish .....................001 101 104 - 7 14 4

Arlington A’s........................001 000 310 - 5 10 1

Bill Dunker and Matt Pexa. Mike Spurling, Andy Krominga (9), Ryan Wolf (9) and Chad Dose.

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