American Junior Legion baseball roundup: Montevideo is one step closer to state

Jul. 25—MONTEVIDEO — Minneota's late-game rally fell short as Montevideo Junior Legion Post 380 fended off Post 199 on Tuesday to advance to the South Central Sub-State championship.

Fourth-seeded Post 199 scored three runs in the seventh inning before relief pitcher Sam Knoop shut the door to help cement top-seed Post 380's 5-4 victory.

Minneota plays the winner between Dawson or Madison at 5 p.m. Friday for a spot in the championship game. The championship takes place at 11 a.m. Saturday and if a Game 2 is necessary that follows at 1 p.m.

"It's huge because now all these other teams need to fight through (to get to the championship) and they're gonna use up pitching," Montevideo head coach Tim Epema said of the win. "Now it's going to come down to, we need to execute. ... This group, they play hard all the time and they're gritty baseball players. That's what I love."

It was almost all smooth sailing for Montevideo until starting pitcher Griffin Epema hit the 105-pitch count, forcing him out of the game in the seventh inning after he walked the first batter he faced in Kyson Arndt.

Knoop took the mound to secure the final three outs, but it wasn't easy.

Minneota's next two batters, Carson Javers and Parker Bradley, reached safely to make it bases loaded and no outs. Then, Kellen Bradley drove in Arndt and Javers following two Montevideo errors that cut Post 199's deficit to 5-3.

With runners on the corners and no outs, Tim Epema took a visit to the mound. He told his players to calm down and let Knoop know that the defense was going to make plays behind him.

Following the mound visit, Knoop struck out the next three batters. Minneota's Parker Bradley scored Post 199's fourth run during Eli Gruenes' at-bat — the final at-bat of the game — off a wild pitch.

"It didn't go my way right away, but we battled back and we got the job done," Knoop said. "We just need to take it one game at a time, stay positive and come with energy every game."

Tim Epema added, "Sam's one of our sophomore leaders. He has a lot of confidence and I love it because he believes in himself and his teammates."

Griffin Epema went six innings for Post 380. He struck out 11 and walked three, allowing three hits and two earned runs.

Before the game, Griffin Epema told Tim Epema he was struggling with locating his pitches. So, Griffin went and threw more pitches before the game began and that seemed to do the trick.

"I just needed to slow down my legs," Griffin Epema said. "That helped me a lot to be confident in my pitches and location."

Montevideo, the defending state champion, is one victory away from making it to the state tournament Aug 4-6 in Granite Falls. Gannon Reidinger will get the start on the mound on Saturday.

Post 380, which has a 13-0 record, is on a 31 game winning streak and is focused on taking it one game at a time.

"Half of these guys played last year too," Tim Epema said. "They compete like no other group and it's so much fun."

Minneota 001 000 3-4 5 3

Montevideo 102 002 x-5 10 2

Hitting — Minneota: Parker Bradley 1-3 r-2 bb, Kellen Bradley 0-2 rbi-2, Brody Larson 1-3 rbi, Eli Gruenes 1-4, Joey Lacek 1-2, Adam Dalager 0-2 bb, Kyson Arndt 0-2 bb r, Carson Javers 1-2 r 2b bb ... Montevideo: Ben Gunlogson 1-4 r rbi, Griffin Epema 1-2 2b bb hbp sb r-2, Gannon Reidinger 2-4 r rbi, Brody Dack 2-4 sb-2, Sam Knoop 1-4 rbi sb, Carter Malstrom 2-2 r sb, Jaden Hendrickson 1-2 hbp

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Minneota: Larson (L) 4-5-3-2-1-4, K. Bradley 2-4-2-1-0-1 ... Montevideo: Epema (W) 6-4-2-2-3-11, Knoop (Sv) 1-1-2-0-1-3

Dawson got a combined shutout from Nathan Hansen and Tygan Long and two big innings to beat Raymond at Montevideo

Dawson is the No. 2 seed in the west. Raymond is No.2 in the east and was eliminated.

Dawson plays the winner between Granite Falls and Madison. Losers are eliminated.

Hansen went the first three innings and struck out five, walking two. He allowed three hits. Long went the final four innings for the victory, striking out six with no walks. He allowed one hit.

Hansen also went 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs, a run and a sacrifice bunt. Kameron Sather was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.

For Raymond, Griffin Howard, Jase Dirksen, Austin Rice and Kaden Ahrenholz all had hits.

Dawson 300 030 000-6 7 0

Raymond 000 000 000-0 4 6

Hitting — Dawson: Kameron Sather 2-3 rbi r-2, Beau Johnson 1-2 r-2 hbp, Nathan Hansen 2-2 r rbi-2 2b sac, Tygan Long 1-3 rbi-2, Ashton Swendra 1-3 r 2b ... Raymond: Griffin Howard 1-3 sb, Jase Dirksen 1-2 sb, Austin Rice 1-3, Kaden Arenholz 1-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Dawson: Hansen 3-3-0-0-2-5, Long (W) 4-1-0-0-0-6 ... Raymond: Dirksen (L) 6-7-6-5-0-7

Madison remains alive in the South Central Sub State playoffs after eliminating Granite Falls at Montevideo.

Granite Falls was the No. 3 seed in the east. Madison is the No. 3 seed in the west.

Madison plays Dawson at 5 p.m. Friday in Montevideo. The winner advances to the championship bracket at 11 a.m. Saturday at Montevideo.

Drew Huebner tossed a one-hitter to lead Morris past New London-Spicer in the winners' bracket of the North Central Sub State playoffs at Morris.

NLS is the third seed. Morris is the top seed.

Morris advances to the championship bracket of the tournament. It plays at 11 a.m. Saturday at Watkins. A second game, if needed, follows.

Huebner struck out four and walked one. He gave up an RBI double to Kaden Toutges in the top of the seventh.

For Morris, Jack Kehoe went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs. Post 29 had six hits.

New London-Spicer plays an elimination game at 7 p.m. Friday in Watkins. A win sends NLS into the championship bracket.

NLS plays the winner of Holdingford and Eden Valley-Watkins or Upsala/Swanville Area. EVW and USA played Tuesday in Eden Valley. The Holdingford game is at 5 p.m. Friday at Watkins.

NLS 000 000 1-1 1 6

Morris 301 010 x-5 6 0

Hitting — NLS: Brayden Skindelien 0-2 r bb, Garret White 0-3 bb, Logan Swenson 0-2 r bb, Rylan Shimek 0-2 bb, Kaden Toutges 1-1 rbi 2b ... Morris: Riley Asmus 0-3 r hbp, Andrew Marty 0-4 r, Ozzy Jerome 1-3 r-2 rbi, Drew Huebner 1-3, Jack Kehoe 2-3 r rbi-2, Landsen Gibson 1-3 rbi, Jackson Hallman 1-3 2b

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — NLS: Toutges (L) 4.1-3-4-0-0-2, Cole Laughlin 1.2-3-1-0-0-2 ... Morris: Huebner (W) 7-1-1-1-1-4

Holdingford eliminated Starbuck from the North Central Sub State playoffs by shutting out Starbuck at Watkins.

Holdingford is the No. 5 seed. Starbuck was the No. 2 seed.

Holdingford advances to play Upsala/Swanville oe Eden Valley-Watkins at 5 p.m. Friday in Watkins.