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ST. CLOUD — The Ridgewater baseball team saw its surprising season end in the Super Regional on Friday at the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex.
First, the Warriors staved off elimination with a dramatic 9-8 victory over Central Lakes College.
Then, Ridgewater lost for the second time in the tournament to Rochester Community & Technical College, 14-6.
Rochester plays St. Cloud Technical & Community College for the right to represent Region XIII in the NJCAA Division III World Series in Greeneville, Tennessee.
St. Cloud beat Rochester 12-4 in the winners’ bracket Friday, setting up the Rochester vs. Ridgewater game.
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Rochester must beat St. Cloud twice on Saturday to advance.
Ridgewater finishes the season with a 17-20 record after starting the year 3-10. It’s the first time it has advanced to postseason play since 2016 and the first time the Warriors have taken the field since 2019. The 2020 and ‘21 seasons were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Warriors opened the day by eliminating Central Lakes College. Ridgewater scored twice in the bottom of the ninth for the walk-off victory.
It enabled the Warriors to advance after losing to the Raiders in five of six games heading into Friday’s contest.
Brad Bickmann led Ridgewater’s offense. He went 2-for-4 with a home run, three runs, four RBI and a walk. He’s a freshman from Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted.
Key to the win was the relief pitching of Jack Howard. The freshman right-hander from Renville County West allowed one run over five innings. He struck out eight, walked three and allowed five hits.
In Game 2, Rochester scored three in the top of the first and added three in the top of the third to take a 6-0 lead. The Yellowjackets had 19 hits and got home runs from Will Pacheo and Gabe Sepulveda.
Tyler Flis went 3-for-5 with a double, a run and two RBI for the Warriors. He’s a freshman catcher from Robbinsdale Armstrong.
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Bickmann, Seth Resnick and Nolan Spence all added two hits for Ridgewater.
Rochester 14, Ridgewater 6
Rochester 303 013 013-14 19 1
Ridgewater 002 010 021-6 12 2
Hitting - Rochester: Wil Pacheco 2-5 r-3 rbi bb hr sb, Sean Connolly 0-2 sac, Gabe Sepulveda 3-5 r-4 rbi-3 bb 2b hr, Zebastian Bolduc 4-6 r-3 rbi 2b-3, Gustavo Gonzalez 2-4 r-3 rbi-4 bb 2b sf, Blake Schilling 3-6 rbi, Yanseph Llanos 1-5 rbi-3 2b, Izaak Stevens 1-4 bb sb, Klayton Hawkins 3-5 r sb-2 … Ridgewater: Tyler Traphagen 1-4 r bb 2b, Brad Bickmann 2-5 r-2 rbi 2b, Tyler Flis 3-5 r rbi-2 2b, Seth Resnick 2-4 r bb, Nolan Spence 2-5 rbi-2, Bennett Knapper 1-5, Josh Robb 0-3 rbi bb, Reece Schwirtz 1-4 r
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - Rochester: Alec Dietl (W, 7-1) 7.1-11-5-5-0-5, Llanos 1.2-1-1-3-2 … Ridgewater: Josh Robb (L, 1-1) 8-15-11-10-4-6, Ty Schulte 1-4-3-3-0-2
Ridgewater 9, Central Lakes 8
Central Lakes 500 020 010-8 10 5
Ridgewater 060 000 102-9 6 1
Hitting - Central Lakes: Eli Roberts 1-4 r bb, Erubiel Ozuna 0-3 r bb, Gunnar Wicklund 1-5 r 2b, Derin Gaudette 3-5 r rbi-5 hr, Noah Cekalla 1-5 r, Kyle Baker 1-5 r, Adam Braun 1-3 r rbi-2 hr bb-2, Rylee Rauch 2-3 r rbi bb … Ridgewater: Tyler Traphagen 1-5 r, Brad Bickmann 2-4 r-3 rbi-4 bb hr, Tyler Flis 0-2 bb, Seth Resnick 1-3 2b sf, Nolan Spence 0-3 bb, Bennett Knapper 1-4 r 2b, Jadrien Keavy 0-3 r bb, Josh Robb 0-4 r, Reece Schwirtz 1-4 r-2 rbi
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - Central Lakes: Mason Argir 2-4-6-4-4-1, Ivan Villa 6.1-1-2-0-0-4, Baker (L) 0-1-1-10-0 … Ridgewater: Bickmann 4-5-7-7-2-3, Jack Howard (W) 5-5-1-1-3-8
