BLOOMINGTON -- Ross Van Hauen threw a complete-game, three-hitter to lead Willmar to a 10-1 win over St. Cloud Chutes in the loser's bracket of the state Division I American Legion baseball tournament Friday.
Willmar beat Tri-City Red in the second game Friday, 12-7, but statistics were not available at press time. Willmar will face Centennial at 1 p.m. today at Red Haddox Field in Bloomington.
Van Hauen held the Chutes hitless in the third through sixth innings and closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth.
"He had a fantastic curve ball today," said Willmar coach Dave Oehrlein. "He was throwing it for a strike as much as he was his fastball. And he was getting a lot of ground balls."
While Van Hauen kept St. Cloud scoreless, Post 167 managed to score three runs in the fourth and another in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead.
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The Chutes plated a run in the eighth, but Willmar roared back in the bottom of the frame, scoring six runs.
"We fell into the same pattern as last game," said Oehrlein, comparing the win to Thursday's victory over Perham in 10 innings. "We're getting behind in the count and then not getting the pitches to hit.
"But then (at the end of the game) we started swinging at the first strike and putting it in play."
Willmar connected on five straight hits to start the eighth, getting an RBI double from Alex Malmgren and run-scoring singles from Mike Dunham and Kyle Birkland. Tyler Horning and Matt Seehusen followed with one-out RBI singles.
Willmar 10, St. Cloud Chutes 1
SC Chutes .......000 000 010 -- 1 3 1
Willmar 000 301 06x -- 10 16 3
HITTING - St. Cloud Chutes: Kevin Wenner 1-for-4; Matt Peck 1-for-3; Aaron Schwinghammer 1-for-3 .... Willmar: Kyle Birkland 3-for-4, rbi; Tyler Horning 2-for-5, rbi; Matt Seehusen 2-for-3, rbi; Ross Van Hauen 1-for-5, 2b, rbi; Jason Otte 2-for-4, rbi; Jason Scheffler 3-for-4, 2 rbi; Alex Malmgren 1-for-4, 2b, rbi; Mike Dunham 2-for-4, rbi
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PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- St. Cloud Chutes: Phil Imholte (L) 6Zc-9-4-4-2-4, Adam Theis 1Xc-7-6-5-1-0 .... Willmar: Ross Van Hauen (W) 9-3-1-0-3-5
