DAWSON – The first round of the section 3A baseball playoffs continued with a matchup on Saturday between the third-seeded Minneota Vikings and the six-seeded Central Minnesota Christian School Blue Jays. The game did not disappoint, as a back-and-forth contest between the two schools ended with an 8-6 upset victory for CMCS in eight innings.

The first half of the game belonged to the Blue Jays, who took advantage of a sloppy start early on from Minneota. In the top of the first inning, CMCS’ first 3 batters reached base. Tanner Stoel and Tedd Ahrenholz secured back-to-back four-pitch walks, and the third batter, Jaxon Schwitters, laid down a good bunt that led to an error by Vikings starting pitcher Preston Nuy. Nuy’s throw to first sailed into the outfield, scoring the first run of the game. The next Blue Jays batter, Micah Vander Beek, delivered an RBI groundout that gave CMCS an early 2-0 lead.

Vander Beek shined on the mound as well. One of the few times he got in trouble was in the bottom of the second inning, as the Vikings were able to break through on the scoreboard. Nuy led off the inning with a single, promptly stole second base, and then came around to score on Thomas Hennen’s RBI single.

At that point, CMCS only led by a run, but they got some breathing room in the top of the third inning. Stoel delivered a leadoff double, Schwitters singled to right, and then Vander Beek walked to load the bases. The next batter, Aaron Zwart, lined a shot over second base that scored two runs. Minneota’s Nuy was then replaced on the mound by Hennen, who pitched very well in relief for the Vikings. Hennen did give up a sacrifice fly in the inning off the bat of Jacob Meyer, and CMCS held a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Minneota refused to go away, however. In the bottom of the sixth, down to their last six outs, the Vikings responded with a three-run inning. Brock Fox, Alex Pohlen, and Landon Abraham all had singles for Minneota in the inning, but the biggest play came off an error by the third baseman that led to two runs being scored. Minneota had cut the Blue Jays lead down to one run at 5-4, which is how things stood in the bottom of the seventh.

Again, Minneota was able to manufacture runs with smart base running. Pinch hitter Teddy Pesch led off the inning with a walk. Pesch advanced to second on a wild pitch by CMCS reliever Zwart, and came around to score on an error on a groundball that scooted into the outfield. Minneota had tied the game at five, but Zwart got out of a jam by getting the final two batters of the inning to fly out, stranding the winning run at second.

The game moved to extra innings, and CMCS, despite giving up a four-run lead in the past two innings, responded well at the plate. The Blue Jays had two runners on when freshmen Jay Marcus hit a bloop single over shortstop that scored two go-ahead runs. Marcus would later come around to score himself, and CMCS once again had taken the lead, this time by a score of 8-5.

With their backs against the wall, Minneota kept the game interesting. With two outs and two runners on, Austin DeVlaeminck crushed a double over the left fielders head that scored one run and brought the tying run to scoring position. A hit to the outfield would likely have tied the game, but Zwart was able to get the final out on a groundout to the second baseman. In a wild game, CMCS had pulled off an 8-6 extra inning victory, and advanced to play Dawson-Boyd that same day. Vander Beek came up huge for the Blue Jays on the mound. He completed six innings, giving up only two earned runs and struck out 10. Zwart got the win on the mound in relief, pitching two innings and surrendering only an unearned run.

“Aaron’s a good pitcher,” CMCS head coach Bob Stoel said. “He’s a pitch to contact guy, a lot of ground balls, and we just have to field the ball better, otherwise Dawson’s going to beat us.”

On the other side, Minneota pitcher Thomas Hennen was equally efficient. Hennen pitched 5 2/3 innings in relief and shut down the Blue Jays batters for the most part, giving up two hits and two earned runs.

It was a test of resiliency for CMCS, who gave up a late lead but never seemed discouraged. “The kids just keep playing,” coach Stoel said. “The young kids got it going there in the top of the eighth inning, and we executed some things…and just made some plays late.”

Minneota ends its season with a 12-5 record.

CMCS 203 000 03 – 8 5 3

Minneota 010 003 11 – 6 9 2

Pitching: CMCS (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO): (Vander Beek 6-6-5-2-1-10; Zwart 2-3-1-0-0-1); Minneota (Nuy 2.1-3-5-4-4-4; Hennen 5.2-2-3-2-4-4)

Batting: CMCS (Stoel: 1-2, 2B, 2 BB; Zwart: 1-3, BB, 2 RBI); Minneota (Hennen: 1-4, RBI; DeVlaeminck: 1-5, 2B, RBI; Abraham: 1-3, RBI).