St. Patrick Walk-Off for Region 3C Title

The St. Patrick Irish were behind 6-1 going into the bottom of the 5th inning against Union Hill today in St. Patrick and won 8-7.

The Bulldogs were two outs away from the title in the bottom of the 9th inning when two errors helped the Irish get to the 10th inning.

Two errors on one play in the 10th inning allowed Kevin Pexa to score the winning run after walking to start the inning. Designated Hitter Dom Deluca was attempting to sacrifice him over when he was hit by a pitch setting up the walk-off win for regular season DRS League Champion St. Patrick.

Jace Westman of Jordan hit a ground ball on the infield that the pitcher fielded and threw wide of the first baseman.  Pexa never hesitated rounding third and easily scored the winning run.

The Irish took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Jack Friedges was walked to start the game by Union Hill starting pitcher Jack Kreutzian.  After back to back strikeouts Kyle Rhodus was walked.  Friedges had stolen second base before the walk and advanced to third base when the Bulldogs had him in a rundown and did not execute it properly.  He was awarded third base due to a defensive obstruction call.  Friedges scored following a Matt Ambrose 3-1 count single on an error by the shortstop.

Union Hill took the lead in the top of the 4th inning when Will Busch opened the inning with a single.  Nathan Berg was walked by St. Patrick starting pitcher Zach Seurer.  Nate Lee of Veseli stroked a 1-1 count double to the gap in right center field.

Adam Giesen followed with another single.  Jack Becker then hit a 1-2 count single scoring Lee.  A error in right field allowed the Irish to record an out at second base and during the next at bat Becker was thrown out trying to steal second base.

The Bulldogs added to their lead in the top of the 5th inning when Derek Masberg opened the inning with a 0-2 count infield single.  Joe Becker reached base on a 0-1 count grounder to short that resulted in an error.

Following a ground out Nathan Berg jumped on the first pitch he saw for a 3 run home run just to the left of the 345 foot sign in right center.  Seurer buckled down to strike out the #4 and #5 Bulldogs hitters to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 5th inning Kreutzian retired the first batter before Jack Friedges clobbered a 2-1 pitch solo home run to left field.  Kal Brohmer hit a single in my book ending up at second base due to an error.  Ryan Friedges was hit by a 1-2 count pitch. Kyle Rhodus was walked to fill the bases.

Catcher Matt Ambroz hit a 2-2 pitch to left field scoring two runs.  Seth Ambroz jumped on the first pitch he saw for a RBI double.  Kreutzian was replaced by Joe Becker who got a double play that ended the inning. The lead had been cut to one run.

Kreutzian went 4 1/3 innings with 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, a hit batter, 5 runs allowed, 3 earned.  He threw 91 pitches, 55 strikes.

At one point in the first two innings Seurer recorded 5 consecutive strikeouts.  He got his sixth in the third inning.  Seurer finished his 5 innings with 9 strikeouts, 1 walk, 6 runs allowed, 3 earned.  He totaled 84 pitches 60 for strikes.

In the top of the 9th inning Union Hill recorded what they hoped would be an insurance run when Jacob Becker beat out a 3-2 pitch infield grounder to start the inning.

He was sacrificed to second base.  That was followed by a pop out.  Joe Becker hit a 1-0 count single to left scoring Jacob Becker giving the Bulldogs a 7-5 lead.

Joe Becker struck out the first batter he faced in the 9th.  Al Bromer hit a 2-1 pich for a single.  Ryan Friedges hit a single that allowed the runners to advance an extra base due to an error in left field.

Rhodus hit a ground ball to the third baseman who hesitated just a bit before throwing the ball in the dirt to home plate.  Friedges scored from second base with a head first slide on the play to tie the game.

In the top of the 10th inning St. Patrick brought in another right handed pitcher, Trevor Divinski, he struck out the #3, #4 and #5 hitters in the Bulldogs lineup on 12 pitches, 9 strikes.

Phillip Garcia took over for Seurer and pitched well.  Garcia threw 4 innings of 2 hit ball with 1 strikeout, no walks, 1 hit batter, 1 earned run allowed.

Nathan Berg took the mound for Union Hill in the 10th inning.  Kevin Pexa worked the count full before walking and later scored on an error to notch the walk-off victory.

St. Patrick wins Region 3C and has the opening weekend off.  They drafted Nate Rost of Faribault, Luke Weber of Prior Lake and Phil Tisdel from Lonsdale to add to their State Tournament roster.

Union Hill will be the #2 seed from Region 6C and drafted Johnny Krocak from Montgomery, Ross Beumer and Adam Fjerstad of Lonsdale.

New Prague got by St. Benedict 6-5 on Saturday making the Orioles the #3 seed and Saints the #4 seed at state from Region 3C.

New Prague drafted Ben Morrison of Prior Lake, Nate Picka of Veseli, Luke Allen with Webster.

St. Benedict drafted Joe Grote of Faribault, Jonny Houston of Prior Lake and Matt Perkinson from Veseli.

New Market out of the DRS League is in the Class B State Tournament out of Section 1B.

Hampton defeated Elko in the Redemption Round of the Section 1B Tournament 14-10 to advance to state and end the Express season.

These are awesome!

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