MONTEVIDEO -- Kevin Erdal hit a three-run bomb in the first inning and also picked up the win on the hill as Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop ripped the Madison 9-2 to cruise into the District 7, Division II championship round.
GFW jumped on Madison starter Matt Enger for six runs on six hits in two innings.
Madison, meanwhile, couldn't find the switch on offense and Erdal breezed into the bottom of the seventh with a 9-0 lead.
Madison generated two runs off Erdal, finally, and reliever Reed Sallstrom on RBI singles by Zach Ronglien and Derek Bremseth.
Madison plays Wheaton at 6:30 tonight in an elimination game in Montevideo.
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The winner will have to beat GFW twice on Saturday to reach the state tournament in Ely, which starts Thursday.
GFW 9, Madison 2
GFW 420 100 2 -- 9 10 0
Madison 000 000 2 -- 2 6 4
HITTING - Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop: Justin Schwecke 2-for-5; Jason Berger 2-for-5, 2 rbi; Kevin Erdal 2-for-4, 3-run HR, 3 rbi; Sam Van Hon 2-for-4, rbi ... Madison: Brock Kanstrup 1-for-4; Matt Enger 2-for-3; Bryce Hiepler 1-for-2; Zach Ronglien 1-for-1, rbi; Derek Bremseth 1-for-3, rbi
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop: Kevin Erdal (W) 6-4-2-2-1-5, Reed Sallstrom 1-2-0-0-0-1 ... Madison: Matt Enger (L) 2-6-6-4-2-1, Bryce Hiepler 4-2-1-1-1-5, Zach Ronglien 1-2-2-2-1-0
Loser's bracket
Wheaton 11, Sacred Heart 10
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Ryan Schjenken tied the game at 10-10 for Sacred Heart in the top half of the seventh inning by scoring on an error, but Wheaton answered back.
Reed Schmitz hit a clean single to left field with a runner on first, which looked like it would load the bases. But the ball kept rolling and Lucas Croatt raced home to scoring the winning run that eliminated Sacred Heart from the tournament.
Mike Fischer helped Sacred Heart take a 9-7 lead with his three-run double in the fifth, but Wheaton scored in every inning and launched a 15-hit attack to move into the loser's bracket final. Schjenken had three of Sacred Heart's 10 hits and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.
Sacred Heart 013 140 1 -- 10 10 3
Wheaton 221 212 1 -- 11 15 5
HITTING - Sacred Heart: Jordan Daugherty 1-for-5; Tyler Kleinhuizen 1-for-5, 3b; Dakota Freiborg 1-for-3, 2b, rbi; Paul Peterson 2-for-5, rbi; Mike Fischer 1-for-1, 2b, 3 rbi; Ryan Schjenken 3-for-4, 2b, 3b, 2 rbi; Steve Gens 1-for-3 ... Wheaton: Lucas Armstrong 4-for-5, 2 rbi; Reed Schmitz 3-for-5, 2 rbi; Trent Frish 2-for-2, rbi
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- Sacred Heart: Andy Erickson 2-5-4-4-1-3, Dakota Freiborg 3Zc-7-6-6-2-4, Cam Holm (L) Xc-2-1-1-0-1 ... Wheaton: Sam Thielen 5-9-9-7-3-1, Brady Sykora (W) 2-1-1-0-2-1
