Photo by Emily Daniels Wabasso’s Jacob Plaetz connects on a base hit during their Section 3A tournament game against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg on Saturday. The Rabbits defeated the Saints 5-0 to advance to the section title game on Thursday.

MILROY – The No. 1S Wabasso baseball team continued its strong postseason run with another solid performance, as the Rabbits defeated the No. 1 seed in the North, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, 5-0 on Saturday to advance to the Section 3A championship game.

With a few quiet innings on the offensive end for the Rabbits, the pitching was a different story for them. Wabasso coach Chad Olson was impressed with the way that Nick Altermatt pitched and the way that he led the team against a tough Saints team.

“Having Nick at the mound always gives us a chance, he had one his best games of his career against a very good team. The way KMS is, that was very impressive,” said Olson. “We broke out the bats there in the middle innings there, I’m very happy and the kids came to play.”

Altermatt got the game off to a good start on the mound for the Rabbits, striking out two and allowing one hit and one walk in the first frame as the Saints couldn’t make anything of their first plate appearance. In Wabasso’s first trip to the plate, the Rabbits got a hit from Cooper Taylor who found an opening in the outfield for a single, but Wabasso couldn’t find a way to bring in a run.

The second inning for the Rabbits saw more success at the plate with three hits. The first hit of the inning came from Jacob Plaetz, followed by a single from Ty Kemp. With two runners on base, Kyle Jacobson was up to the plate and found the connection to hit a single, but that led to an out on third. The Rabbits out on third was followed by two more outs at the plate and Wabasso couldn’t find their opportunity to score.

The third inning was a different story for the Rabbits when they got up to bat. The inning got started with Taylor taking a walk, who then stole second. With Taylor on second, Tony Franta hit a single which was followed by a walk from Altermatt to load the bases when Plaetz came up to the plate. Plaetz didn’t let his opportunity go to waste as he connected on a one-out base hit that scored two RBI, giving the Rabbits a 2-0 lead. Jacobson’s bat then came alive with a hit that plated two more runs, extending the Rabbits lead to 4-0 to end the third inning.

After a scoreless fourth, Wabasso continued its offense in the next inning, with Ryan Liebl starting off the frame with a triple followed by an RBI double from Plaetz to extend the Rabbits’ lead to 5-0.

Altermatt and the Rabbits defense would shut down the Saints the rest of the way to move on to the section title game.

Altermatt earned the victory on the hill, going 6.2 innings while allowing no runs on five hits and striking out 10.

Plaetz led the way offensively, going 3 for 3 with three RBI while Jacobson went 2 for 3 with two RBI.

Despite coming out with a big 5-0 win over the Saints, Olson wants to see some more better at bats from the team as they go into the championship game.

“I think we still threw away some at bats today, they had some good pitchers and I have to give them credit,” said Olson. “But, I think we can do a better job at bat to get some more base runners and score a few more runs.”

The Rabbits will play in the championship game on Thursday at 5 p.m. and will play the winner of the Lac Qui Parle Valley and KMS game that will be played on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Wabasso 5, KMS 0

KMS 000 000 0 – 0 5 0

Wabasso 004 010 x – 5 9 2

Hitting: Wabasso (Plaetz 3-3, 3 RBI; Jacobson 2-3, 2 RBI; Cooper Taylor 1-1).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): Wabasso (Altermatt 6.2-0-0-5-1-10; Jacobson 0.1-0-0-0-0-1).