Minnesota State Class AA Tournament

ST. CLOUD --

 

 

Proctor won the Third Place Championship over Fairmont at Dick Putz Field on Friday evening for the best finish in school history. Winning pitcher Matt Dolsen (1-1, 3.77 ERA) threw six shutout innings for his first varsity win.

 

The Rails scored three runs in the third inning on a three-RBI double by Ben Nelson. Ian Scherber led off the inning by reaching on an error, Jesse Scanlon also reached on a fielder's choice error, and Ryan McCarthy singled before Nelson cleared the bases on a deep hit to the left-center field gap.

 

Proctor scored three insurance runs in the fifth. Jimmy Merling singled to lead off, and he scored on McCarthy's home run that went over the left field scoreboard. It was McCarthy's fifth round-tripper of the season and twelfth of his career. Nelson followed with a single, advanced to second when Cody Dolsen reached on a fielder's choice error, and scored on an RBI single by Evan Scherber.

 

Matt Dolsen allowed just three hits. He allowed five walks and had two strikeouts. Jake Lewis pitched the final frame. He had two strikeouts and ended the season on a high-bouncing come-backer that he snared over his head and threw to McCarthy at first base for the final out.

 

Lewis concluded his State Tournament career by allowing just five hits and one unearned run in 15 innings over the past two tournaments. He was 2-0 with 11 strikeouts and no walks allowed in two starts and one relief appearance.

 

 

The Crusaders got a chance to defend their State Championship at Target Field on Monday by defeating Proctor in a see-saw battle that went two extra innings.

 

Proctor got off to an early lead with three runs in the top of the first inning as Cathedral starting pitcher Jeff Fasching struggled with control. Fasching walked three and hit a batter before being replaced by Brian Minks. Ben Nelson got an RBI by walking with the bases loaded for the first run, and Evan Scherber hit into a fielder's choice for an RBI that resulted in an error. Jimmy Merling scored on Nelson's walk, and Jesse Scanlon and Ryan McCarthy scored on Scherber's grounder.

 

Cathedral scratched a run across in the third inning when Michael Kerber led off with a walk and advanced to second on an sacrifice bunt by Michael Ellingson. Kerber went to third on an error on a pickoff attempt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Logan Schramel.

 

Proctor went ahead 4-1 in the fourth when Paul Hegstrom led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jack Nikko, moved to third on a single by Ian Scherber, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Merling.

 

Cathedral went ahead 5-4 in the fifth as Proctor starter Nelson allowed a single, a walk, three hit batsmen, and a catcher's interference before being relieved by Nikko with one out.

 

Proctor was down to its last out in the bottom of the seventh inning when Ian Scherber walked with the bases loaded scoring Evan Scherber to tie the score 5-5.

 

Nikko had allowed just two hits and no runs in three and two-thirds innings heading into the ninth, but was tagged with four runs on four hits and three walks in the final inning. Waylon Bemboom delivered a two-RBI go-ahead single with one out, and Minks and Bo Schmitz followed with RBI singles as Cathedral took a 9-5 lead after eight and a half innings.

 

Proctor scored three runs in the ninth. Hegstrom led off with a walk, Ian Scherber singled with one out, and Merling walked to load the bases. Scanlon hit an RBI ground out and McCarthy hit a two-RBI single before Nelson flew out to deep left field to end the game.

 

Nikko (3-2, 2.47 ERA) was the losing pitcher. McCarthy, Cody Dolsen, Hegstrom, and Ian Scherber had two hits each.

 

 

Jake Lewis thew a two-hit shutout and Ian Scherber hit his second home run in as many games as Proctor defeated Minneapolis Washburn in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

 

Lewis (8-1, 0.65 ERA) did not allow a walk and had five strikeouts. Scherber hit a home run with one out in the top of the sixth inning. The ball hooked left in flight and finally hit off of the top of the left field foul pole.

 

Minneapolis Washburn was 25-0 and averaged over ten runs per game.

 

Josh Pierce was the losing pitcher. He allowed one run on five hits and one walk.