Midway won two elimination games to advance to the state Class C amateur baseball tournament for the 21st time.
The Snurdbirds stayed alive in the Region 14C tournament at Perham’s Krueger Field with a 5-4 win over New York Mills on Friday (Aug. 14) before earning a state berth with a 5-0 win over Nimrod on Saturday (Aug. 15). Bluffton repeated as region champs with a 13-2 seven-inning win over Midway in the championship game on Saturday (Aug. 15).
In the win over New York Mills, Midway took a 3-0 lead when Chris Baso blasted a two-run home run in the first inning and Zach Etter plated Cory Odland with an RBI double in the fifth. After New York Mills scored an unearned run in the sixth, Ike Kyllonen scored on Stetson Burkman’s RBI single in the bottom of that inning for a 4-1 lead.
New York Mills tied the game by scoring three times in the seventh before Preston Riewer scored the game-winning run on Sam Beck’s RBI double.
Burkman earned the win in relief after taking over for Etter in the seventh as Midway defeated New York Mills for the third time this season. Midway edged New York Mills 6-5 during the regular season and 3-2 during the playoffs.
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The Snurdbirds earned a trip to the region championship game by defeating Nimrod for the first time this season as Lund and Burkman combined on a two-hitter.
Drew Rasmussen singled and scored on Lund’s two-run homer in the second before RBI singles by Steve Wetterling and Rasmussen made it 4-0 in the fifth. Riewer, Wetterling, Lund and Rasmussen had two hits apiece to pace Midway’s 10-hit attack. Baso and Beck had the other hits.
Lund started and allowed one hit and five walks with five strikeouts in 4 ⅓ innings. Burkman took over in the fifth (retiring the final two batters to leave the bases loaded), allowing one hit and two walks while striking out four over the final 4 ⅔ innings for the win.
That was Midway’s first win over Nimrod this season. Nimrod defeated the Snurdbirds 5-2 and 7-6 during the regular season and 12-7 in the playoffs.
An eight-run second inning powered Bluffton past Midway in the region finals in this game that was ended early because of the 10-run rule.
Two errors led to four of the eight runs in the second while another error led to two more runs during a three-run fourth inning in helping Bluffton repeat as region champs.
Midway was held to only five hits with Wetterling accounting for two of them. Etter, Riewer and Beck had a hit apiece as Midway fell to 11-7 on the season. Brett Dormanen started and took the loss, allowing nine runs on seven hits over the first two innings.
Bluffton’s Jake Dykhoff was named the Region 14C MVP after going 14 for 15 at the plate with four home runs, nine runs scored and nine RBI. Dykhoff also posted a 2-0 record on the mound, allowing five hits and five walks with 20 strikeouts in 12 innings of scoreless ball. Bluffton defeated Midway 18-2 and 7-1 during the regular season.
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Midway, which won the state Class C title in 2010, will open the single-elimination state tournament by playing Lake Henry on Saturday (Aug. 22) at 2 p.m. at Springfield. The winner of that game plays Jordan on Aug. 30 at 5 p.m. at Milroy.
Bluffton received a bye and will play the winner of the Hadley vs. Randall game at Milroy on Aug. 29 at 11 a.m. Bluffton will carry an 11-1 record to state. The state championship game is scheduled for Sept. 7 at Springfield.
