Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa prep athletics is a newsmaker again. Lots of highlights in this academic year. Whoops, technically speaking the academic year is over. But the spring teams plunge onward, the best ones that are state-caliber. State is the apex of prep competition, of course, the summit. The Jaguars of the baseball world are at that summit now, readying for action at St. Cloud's Faber Field.
This is a first for Jaguar athletics: making the state Class A baseball tournament. They made the leap to state with their 4-2 win over Parkers Prairie on Tuesday. The site was Marthaler Field at Minnewaska Area.
Fans had gotten accustomed to a come-from-behind flair by the Jags. But in the Tuesday contest, fans saw their team seize the lead and work to hang on. Success could not be assumed for the Jaguars at this stage - that's because of their very lukewarm won-lost record for the season. At present they are 13-11, quite pedestrian. Of course that doesn't matter now.
Their next test is this coming Tuesday. Their first-year head coach is Ben Klaphake. He told the West Central Tribune "we can't make anything easy." The comeback nature of the team prompted him to use the "cardiac kids" tag. "They live for these big moments."
Parkers Prairie entered the 6A championship game with a narrow win over the defending champion, New York Mills.
The BBE Jaguars got going vs. Parkers with a succession of big hits with two outs. That was in the very first inning. A double off the bat of Luke Dingmann scored Tanner Shelton. Dingmann attempted to score on Ethan Mueller's double but was thrown out by Dylan Debilzen.
Parkers had the kind of season W/L you'd expect to see at this level, with nearly 20 wins.
BBE pitcher Talen Kampsen really bore down through the first three innings. Zero runs by Parkers. The complexion changed in the fourth with the sacks getting loaded. Nobody out! Relief was sought in the pitching department, so on came Tate DeKok.
DeKok was up to the task. He put out the fire. He did so by determining he should "just throw strikes," the West Central Tribune noted. The pitcher was confident in the defense behind him. How was the fire put out? A double play is like a miracle to bless the team on defense. The Jaguars were thusly blessed - it was a 1-2-3 twin killing. DeKok himself fielded the ball.
Next it was Mason Boesl coming up to bat. Boesl connected for a run-scoring single to left. The score is tied. And Parkers nearly grabbed the lead with a second runner attempting to score. BBE showed the clutch execution: Hayden Sobiech in left fired the ball to home where Ethan Mueller applied the tag on Cohen Noska. So it was out No. 3. Whew!
The BBE offense came to centerstage in the sixth frame. Three runs lifted the Jaguars' cause in a timely way. BBE had the look of a team of destiny. First a wild pitch allowed a runner in - that was Sobiech. Brett DeRoo singled to score Luke Illies. Then the door got opened with an error by the Parkers shortstop. Ryan Jensen crossed home plate. So the Jaguars sit confidently on top, a 4-1 score.
Illies commented post-game that the entire BBE lineup came through on the day. Seems consistent with destiny! But what will Tuesday bring in St. Cloud?
The suspense was not over in the section title game. BBE was a mere two outs away from making state, but DeKok walked a couple batters. On came Illies in the pitching department. Working in concert with his defense, he finished things off and got his two-out save.
DeKok was the pitcher of record, having thrown 3 1/3 innings. The historic last out had Casey Lenarz with his first baseman's glove snare a ground ball and then step on the bag.
"It's surreal," Illies said of the success. "Wow, we actually did that."
The Jaguars scored their four runs on ten hits. Their error total: a mere one. The Parkers Prairie line score: two runs, six hits, two errors. The losing pitcher was Holden Traux.
Let's peruse the boxscore. Here we see Shelton with a perfect two-for-two line including a double. This Jaguar doubled, drew a walk and scored a run. Hayden Sobiech also had a two-for-two line, plus he was credited with a sacrifice. He crossed home plate once. Luke Illies was two-for-three with a run.
These Jaguars also hit safely: Brett DeRoo, Luke Dingmann, Ethan Mueller and Ryan Jensen.
How they marched
The Jags put together a succession of five wins in Section 6A play. So they passed a most rigorous test. Let's run down the whole sequence: 11-0 over St. John's Prep, 8-7 over Upsala/Swanville Area, 6-5 over KMS, 5-4 over New York Mills, and finally the 4-2 win over Parkers Prairie. Undaunted and confident all the way.
Now, what will the state story be? During regular season play, BBE had a down period of five straight losses from May 18 until the 23rd. That's merely filed away as history now.
Congratulations also to BBE golf! These Jaguars are state-bound as well. See the photos below. The individual is Brady Schwinghammer, the No. 1 performer in Section 5A. State golf is slated for June 13-14. Lots of sports success for my old newspaper compatriot Randy Olson to write about. Stay busy, Randy! I know the excitement you're feeling. Randy's work goes well beyond his Bonanza Valley print product. He's very active online as well. Too bad our newspaper in Morris does not make the same broad commitment. (images from facebook)
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment