St. Patrick Irish win in Region 6C tourney

The St. Patrick Irish 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.

After drawing a first round bye, St. Patrick shutout New Richland last Friday and defeated Blue Earth on Sunday. It was only the second loss for Blue Earth this season.

St. Patrick will host either Lake Crystal, Lonsdale or Blue Earth next Sunday at 2 p.m. at Bonin Field at St. Patrick.

Lake Crystal and Lonsdale were slated to meet on Wednesday night at Waterville in a losers bracket game. The winner meets Blue Earth on Friday night (site to be determined) for the right to play at St. Patrick on Sunday.

If a second game is necessary on Sunday to determine #1 and #2 seed in state tourney pairings, it would follow the first game.

The Region 6C results last week:

Wed., Aug. 4

New Richland 9, Lake Crystal 0

The Reds blanked Lake Crystal 9-0 in a first round game at New Richland.

Lonsdale 2, Minnesota Lake 1

The Aces scored two unearned runs on an infielder's throwing error in the seventh inning and made that stand up for a 2-1 win over Minnesota Lake in a game at Lonsdale.

Scott Bauer hit the ball to the third baseman with two outs and the bases full. A throwing error allowed both Brad Vosejpka and Bryce Barry to score. The only hit in the inning was a leadoff single by Derek Vosejpka. There were also two wild pitches, two walks, and a fielder's choice.

Minnesota Lake had scored first in the opening inning. After a walk, sacrifice and ground out, C. Bushlack doubled to score J. Byram.

Mike Jirik was the winning pitcher, working seven innings and giving up but two hits. Chad Hoffman got the save with five strikeouts in the last two innings.

The line score: R H E

Minnesota Lake.....................100 000 000 - 1 2 2

Lonsdale Aces.......................000 000 20x - 2 5 0

C. Staloch and B. Olson. Mike Jirik, Chad Hoffman (8) and Tom Popp.

Fri., Aug. 6

St. Patrick 10, New Richland 0 (7 inn.)

Righthander Bill Dunker pitched a five hitter for the Irish at Elko, striking out 12 and walking only one in a seven-inning outing.

Paul Meyer got things going for St. Patrick with a first-inning homer with Jeff Bjerke on base.

The Irish made use of three walks, two singles, a sac fly and an error to count three more runs in the third inning and upped the lead to 5-0. An unearned run scored in the fourth and singles by Adam Almich, Bjerke, Meyer and Dan Popple put two more on the board in the sixth.

In the seventh, a walk and two hit batters loaded the bases. With two outs, Bjerke's grounder to shortstop went for an error, two runners scoring and the game ending on the 10-run rule.

Bjerke, Meyer and Popple had two hits each, and Tony Schlaak hit two singles for the Reds.

The line score: R H E

New Richland Reds................000 000 0 - 0 5 4

St. Patrick Irish.......................203 102 2 - 10 8 1

Ryan Barnich, Adam Bargie (7), Mike Madison (72/3) and Jason Churchill. Bill Dunker and Matt Pexa.

Blue Earth 3, Lonsdale 2

The Pirates scored two unearned runs in the eighth inning in a game at Blue Earth to break a 1-1 tie and held on to defeat Lonsdale 3-2.

Blue Earth scored first in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles by T. Rasmussen and T. Schmidtke.

In the next inning, Chad Hoffman doubled for the Aces to score Brian Vosejpka, who had opened with a single and advanced on an error.

Tom Popp homered for the Aces with one out in the ninth and no one on. L. Hodges came on to pitch and get the save with two strikeouts.

Popp was Lonsdale's leading hitter with three hits, including a second-inning double. Schmidtke had three of Blue Earth's five hits.

The line score: R H E

Lonsdale Aces.....................000 010 001 - 2 6 5

Blue Earth Pirates................000 100 02x - 3 5 2

Brian Vosejpka and Tom Popp. D. Schultz, Lee Hodges (81/3) and T. Stallman.

Sunday, Aug. 8

Lake Crystal 6, Minnesota Lake 2

Lake Crystal eliminated Minnesota Lake with a 6-2 victory.

St. Patrick 7, Blue Earth 5

The Irish earned a state tourney spot with a 7-5 victory at Blue Earth.

Bill Dunker was the winning pitcher in relief, coming on with bases loaded during a Pirates fourth-inning rally, score tied at 4-4 and no outs. Dunker set down Blue Earth without a run in the last five innings.

St. Patrick banged out 14 hits. Jeff Bjerke hit a two-run homer in the fourth and a sixth-inning single to knot the score at 5-5.

In the seventh inning, Eric Hanson doubled to drive in Craig Boser, who had walked, with the lead run. Bjerke doubled in the eighth inning and scored on Paul Meyer's double.

Meyer and Matt Pexa totaled three hits each along with Bjerke.

The line score: R H E

St. Patrick Irish......................000 401 110 - 7 14 0

Blue Earth Pirates..................000 500 000 - 5 12 0

Keith Sticha, Bill Dunker (4) and Matt Pexa. Lee Hodges, Aaron Wendt (5), Jay Herman (7) and T.J. Stallman.

Lonsdale 7, New Richland 4 (14 inn.)

The Aces played in a marathon at New Richland in a loser's bracket game and won a thriller in 14 innings, 7-4.

Lonsdale led 4-2 going into the last of the ninth as New Richland came to bat. The Reds tied it up to send the game into extra innings on a walk, double by Dan Rhoades, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly by Nate Vollbrocht.

The next serious scoring threat was by the Aces in the top of the 14th. With runners on, Brian Vosejpka singled in the lead run and Mike Jirik doubled in two more later in the inning.

New Richland threatened in their last at bat with the first two batters on with singles but a fly out and two infield plays ended the game.

Brian Vosejpka homered in the fourth inning, totaled three hits and three runs scored, and Brad Vosejpka and Jirik had two hits each with Jirik driving in three runs for the Lonsdale.

Chad Hoffman worked six innings in relief and was the winning pitcher.

The line score: R H E

Lonsdale Aces.........001 102 000 000 03 - 7 9 3

New Richland Reds.000 002 002 000 00 - 4 10 4

Mike Jirik, Robert Webber (51/3), Chad Hoffman (9) and Tom Popp. Joey Barr, Vinnie Vanengerenburg (10) and Jason Churchill.

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