WILLMAR -- It's a long way to Tyler, Texas, but the Ridgewater Warriors seem to prefer going the distance.
For the second year in a row, the Warriors came through the loser's bracket to snare the Region 13 baseball championship.
This time, at well past 10:30 p.m. at windswept Taunton Stadium, the Warriors concluded a nine-inning marathon by beating Dakota County Technical College of Rosemount, 16-10.
It was the Warriors' third straight win of the rain-delay tournament after suffering a 5-1 setback to these same Blue Knights on Friday.
Last year, Ridgewater came through the loser's bracket to trip up St. Cloud Technical College for the trip to Tyler.
ADVERTISEMENT
This is the fourth straight year and the sixth time this century a Warriors' team has advanced to the NJCAA Diviision III World Series.
"This is awesome," said sophomore first baseman Keaton Gustin, who doubled and hit a three-run homer to drive in five runs.
"It's hard to know really think about all this. It's the same as last year. We battled back with good fielding and pitching. We always know we'll hit."
Both teams went deep into their rotations for last night's final. Ridgewater put together back-to-back six-run innings to lead 15-3 after five. But the Knights answered with a seven-run inning on just two hits and three Ridgewater errors to climb back in the game.
The teams combined for 27 runs, 21 hits and 10 errors.
Maybe, everyone was just getting a little tired at the end of the strung-out four-day event, which included a day of finals Monday at both schools.
Tyler Steen also homered for Ridgewater, which had 13 hits.
"It feels great," said sophomore shortstop Jeff Brooks of getting another shot at the World Series platform which starts Saturday and runs through Thursday. "Hopefully, we can do a little better than last year."
ADVERTISEMENT
Ridgewater went 2-0 last year with two of its starters on the injured list. Both Brad Haag and Chad Willenbring are back this year and healthy and both won games during Willmar's 4-0 run through the loser's bracket.
Gary Albright got the win in middle relief in the final with Ryan Rodeck shuting the door the last three innings.
Ridge. 16, Dakota Cty.11
Dakota County 200 107 010 -- 11 8 6
Ridgewater 102 661 00x -- 16 13 4
HITTING - Dakota County: Chase Brown 3-for-6, Will Dahlgren 1-for-3, SF, rbi; Evan Lucus 2-for-4, 2-run HR; Aarn Kackman 1-for-5, 2b, 2 rbi; Ryan Valdez 1-for-4, 2 runs ... Ridgewater: Brad Olson 3-for-5, 2 runs; Matt Bauer 2-for-6, solo HR; Tyler Steen 1-for-6, 2 runs, 3 rbi, 2-run HR; Mike Riewer 2-for-5, 2b, rbi; Nate Alfson 1-for-2, 2 runs, 2 bb's, 2 hbp's, rbi; Scott Greening 2-for-5, 2b, 2 rbi; Keaton Gustin 2-for-5, 3-run HR, 5 rbi
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- Dakota County: Jeremie Kruse (L) 3Zc-5-4-2-3-3, Aaron Kackman 1Xc-5-11-5-1-2, Ben Schroeder Zc-2-1-1-0-0, Marcus Fitzgerald 2Zc-1-0-0-1-2 ... Ridgewater: Jason Dorn 3Zc-3-3-2-4-5, Gary Albright (W) 2Xc-4-7-2-4-3, Ryan Rodeck 3-1-1-1-1-4
