Wanamingo and Cannon Falls Qualify for State Baseball

The Cannon Falls Bears fell 9-2 Friday night to Red Wing and the Wanamingo Jacks came all the way throug the Elimination Bracket to earn a trip to the State Amateur Baseball Tournament.

The Jacks defeated Dodge County 6-2 and rolled over Stewartville-Racine 11-2 Saturday meaning they will be the #3 seed out of Region 5C while Cannon Falls is #2 seed.

Red Wing is the Region 5C Champion so they get a bye the first weekend of the State Tournament being played in Faribault, Dundas and Miesville this year.

The Jacks were the #3 seed in the Region after finishing in second place in the Twin Rivers League with a 10-3 record.  Stewartville-Racine was the regular season TRL Champion and swept Wanamingo during the regular season.

The Sharks were the top seed in Region 5C and lost their first game also to #8 seed Dodge County.

Brady Anfinson went the distance in the win over the Diamondbacks.  He struck out 3, walked 1 batter faced and allowed 8 hits.

According to the Jacks scorebook Anfinson threw 102 pitches, 70 strikes.

Brady Nelson was the starting pitcher for Dodge County.

Wanamingo scored 3 runs in the second inning when 7 men went to the plate.  Braxton Baker opened the inning with a single.  Zach Hutton hit a single.  Anfinson was safe on a fielder's choice.  With two outs #9 hitter Gavin Roosen hammered a double scoring two runs.

Roosen scored but it's unclear in the scorebook how.  He also scored in the 4th inning after singling with two outs when Sam Roosen stroked a single.

Alex Roosen opened the 5th inning with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach Hutton.

The Jacks got an insurance run in the 8th again doing damage with two outs.  Rhett Evans singled, Sam Roosen was walked, Eric Swiggum cracked a RBI double.

The Diamondbacks finished their season with a 12-8 record.

Wanamingo then played the Sharks of Stewartville-Racine with a State Tournament berth on the line.  The Sharks were the regular season Twin Rivers League Champions and swept the Jacks during the regular season.

Alex Roosen walked 4 of the first 10 batters faced and then settled into a 4 hitter, 2 coming in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Roosen threw 128 pitches, 79 for strikes with 6 strikeouts, 4 walks.

The Jacks opened the scoring in the third inning when Gavin Roosen walked to start.  He would score on a Eric Swiggum hit grounder when Swiggum beat the relay in a double play attempt.

There were two Stewartville-Racine errors in the inning.  They finished the game with 8 errors.

Zach Hutton opened the 4th inning with a single.  Following a error that advanced Hutton with two outs Rhett Evans hit a RBI single to left field.

In the 5th inning Alex Roosen crushed a baseball off the left field fence for a one out double.  With two outs Hutton singled in Roosen but the ball was overrun by the left fielder allowing Hutton to go to second base.

Brock Baker then collected a RBI single.

Three more runs were scored in the 6th inning.  Evans stroked his second hit of the game to start things.  Sam Roosen hit a full count single.  Swiggum connected for a towering fly ball sacrifice to advance both runners into scoring position.  Alex Roosen was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Baker hit a weak pop up to second base that resulted in the Sharks committing a error when a throw went into the Jacks dugout.  The umpire awarded two runs to score and a runner to advance to third base on the play. I checked the rule book (Rule 5.06 G) and it was right although I don't recall seeing two runs awarded before on such a play.

Hutton hit a RBI single.

The Jacks had 9 men go to the plate in the top of the 9th inning.  With one out Jake Glarner got his second hit.  Roosen hit a one hopper to third base resulting in a error.  Evans hit a ground ball to short resulting in a error.

Sam Roosen smacked his third hit for a RBI. Evans scored on a wild pitch.  Swiggum collected his second RBI with a sacrifice fly.  Alex Roosen got his 4th hit with a RBI single.

The Jacks had 4 errors in the game and left 13 runners on base.  7 in scoring position.

The Sharks stranded 7 with 4 in scoring position.

Andrew Simmons was the starting pitcher for the Sharks going the first 6 innings with 12 hits allowed.

Line totals for the game were:

Wanamingo  11 runs  17 hits  4 errors
Stewartville-Racine   2 runs   4 hits  8 errors

Wanamingo has a 19-5 record entering state competition.

Cannon Falls hammered 9 hits while Red Wing stroked 10 in the Region 5C Championship game Friday night.

The Aces put up a crooked number in the first inning scoring 3 runs off Bears starter Quinton Lindow.

Cannon Falls scratched out a run in the second inning and the fourth inning.  Red Wing scored a run in the fourth and 4 runs in the 8th to secure the victory.

Marcus Walm had two doubles and 3 RBI for the Aces.  Adam Thygesen a hit and 2 RBI.  Teddy Tauer and Brodie Smith each collected 2 hits in the contest.

Peter Haggerty was the only Cannon Falls player with multiple hits and had their only RBI.

Red Wing had 3 errors, Cannon Falls 2 mishaps in the game.

The Bears used 4 pitchers while the Aces had three men take the mound each for 3 innings.

The Minnesota Baseball Association is revealing the bracket for the tournament at 7:00 p.m. Sunday with a show on YouTube that people can subscribe to watch.

Depending on game times the opening weekend hopefully KDHL or POWER 96 Radio will be able to broadcast Cannon Falls and Wanamingo games.

The Steele County Free Fair and Rosefest in Kenyon are happening at the same time.

Beer lovers check this out.