DELANO - Paynesville’s Jordan Roos pitched a solid game and Grant Thompson drove in the winning run in the top of the seventh inning as the No. 5-seeded (West) Bulldogs moved closer to the Section 5AA championship game with a 2-1 win over Providence Academy on Monday.
Roos allowed just five hits and struck out four, and he also was the beneficiary of three big defensive plays in the elimination game against the East subsection’s No. 1 seed.
“He really threw the heck out of the ball,” Bulldogs head coach Brad Skoglund said of Roos. “He seemed to get stronger as the game went on. He got ahead of hitters and the defense played really well behind him, too.”
In the second inning, Paynesville left fielder Josh Mackedanz threw to third baseman Nathan Schultz to cut down a Providence Academy runner at third.
In the fourth inning, Roos picked a Lions runner off first base, and in the sixth, a charging Schultz sniffed out a fake bunt and back-tracked to third to take the throw and make the putout on a Lions runner attempting to steal.
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The Lions took a 1-0 in the first but Paynesville answered in the fourth inning when Nick Dingmann singled, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base, then scored on Mitch Weidner’s ground out to short.
In the seventh, with one out, Mackedanz walked and Collin Riley came in as a pinch runner. He moved to second on a wild pitch and scored the game-winner on Thompson’s single to center field.
The Bulldogs, who have now beaten two No. 1-seeds, a No. 3 and a No. 4, play Delano in the winner’s bracket final at 7 p.m. today in Delano.
Paynesville 2, Providence Academy 1
Paynesville 000 100 1 - 2 5 1
Providence Academy 100 000 0 - 1 5 3
HITTING – Paynesville: Trent Gertken 1-3, Blake Karsch 1-3, Matt Quade 1-4, Nick Dingman 1-3, Grant Thompson 1-3 rbi, Mitchell Weidner 0-3 rbi … Providence Academy: Ben Arndt 1-3, William Wade 1-2 2b, Michael Villafanna 1-3, Joseph Baird 1-3, Michael Burns 1-3
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - Paynesville: Jordan Roos (W) 7-5-1-1-1-4 … Providence Academy: Arndt (L)
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SECTION 6AA
Osakis 3, Minnewaska 2
Austin VerSteeg supplied the lone runs for the Lakers with a third-inning double that brought in Justin Amundson and Jon Nygaard. The lead stood up for a while for starting pitcher Riley Thompson and Minnewaska, but the Silverstreaks (18-3) scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to end the Lakers’ season.
Amundson and Jayden Beecher had two hits apiece for Minnewaska as the Lakers (12-11) couldn’t produce any kind of an attack against Jordan Frederick. The senior right-hander, who suffered the loss in last year’s Class A title game against BOLD, struck out 10 and walked just one batter while scattering seven hits in a complete-game victory.
Minnewaska 002 000 0 - 2 7 0
Osakis 000 000 3 - 3 7 0
HITTING – Minnewaska: Justin Amundson 2-3 run, Austin VerSteeg 1-3 2b rbi-2, Riley Thompson 1-3 2b, Matt McIver 1-3, Jayden Beecher 2-3 … Osakis: Lane Berberich 2-3 2b rbi, Cody DeWenter 2-3 run, Hunter Scherr 1-3 rbi
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - Minnewaska: Thompson (L) 6.1-5-3-3-2-3, VerSteeg 0-2-0-0-1-0 … Osakis: Jordan Frederick (W) 7-7-2-2-1-10
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SECTION 3A
Wabasso 4, MACCRAY 3
An unfortunate ending wrapped up the Wolverines’ season Saturday in Sacred Heart. MACCRAY was trailing 2-1 before going ahead 3-2 in the fifth inning after Dylan Abraham walked and later came home on Carter Asche’s home run.
The Rabbits then jumped back ahead in the bottom half when the game was suspended with two outs due to rain. Moments later the game was called official as both teams had the same amount of at bats and the rain wasn’t letting up.
MACCRAY ended the season 16-5 while Wabasso (12-12) was able to move into the loser’s bracket final.
