Photo by Sam Thiel MCC’s Carter Benda catches a fly ball during their Section 3A tournament game against LQPV on Saturday. MCC defeated LQPV 12-1 in five innings.

MILROY — The Murray County Central baseball team has relied on a lot of resiliency so far in the Section 3A tournament. It also has relied on its offense, scoring a combined 34 runs in four tournament games.

Saturday’s elimination game against No. 2N Lac qui Parle Valley appeared to be headed towards a close, low-scoring battle. But in two frames, the No. 2S Rebels showed their offensive firepower, scoring 10 runs en route to a 12-1 victory in five innings.

MCC coach Nathan Wieneke said he felt they played a complete game and got a spark from the bottom half of their lineup.

“They played a complete game I thought and getting a few runs early is just a sparkplug for the rest of the offense,” Wieneke said. “Having the bottom of our lineup produce at least four to six hits, that’s huge, and if that’s the case, that’s going to make our lineup even more deadly in my opinion.”

After a scoreless first frame, MCC got on the board when Peyton Coulter drew a walk and Connor Degreef connected on an RBI single to make it 1-0 after two. MCC would then add to its lead in its next at-bat, with Carter Benda drawing a walk before Nate Kleven got an RBI single to push the advantage to 2-0, but LQPV had a response in the bottom of the frame. The Eagles would use a single, walk and RBI single to trim the deficit to 2-1 after three.

With LQPV looking to gain momentum, MCC quickly made sure to keep it on its side. Abe Paulzine led off the fourth with a double before Dawson Blankenship drew a walk and Degreef connected on a two-run single. MCC wasn’t done there, as Tanner Graphenteen drew a walk before Jaden Deacon got an RBI single to make it 5-1. Benda then reached on an error to load the bases with one out before Kleven and Christian Tentinger each got hit by a pitch and Paulzine recorded a sacrifice fly to plate three runs and make it 8-1 after four.

After LQPV couldn’t capitalize with a pair of baserunners aboard, MCC continued to add to its lead in the fifth. Degreef and Deacon connected on singles while Graphenteen reached on a walk to load the bases before Benda got a two-run single and Tentinger smacked an RBI single. The Rebels then got a run on a wild pitch to bring it to the 12-1 final.

Degreef led MCC with three hits and three RBIs while Deacon added two hits and an RBI and Kleven, Tentinger and Benda each had a hit and two RBIs.

Wieneke said their key offensively was their aggressiveness at the plate.

“We just constantly tell the guys to be aggressive up there,” Wieneke said. “If you get a pitch that you like, swing, and in the first couple of innings we hit the ball hard but right at them and then the ball started to fall and everything panned out the way we hoped it would.”

Paulzine earned the win on the mound, going 4 2/3 innings while allowing one run on four hits and struck out four.

Up next

MCC will face No. 1S RTR on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Milroy. Going into their next game, Wieneke said both teams are playing their best baseball right now and it’ll be a challenging matchup.

“There’s three left. We played RTR in the beginning of the year and beat them but that was a long time ago and they’re playing good baseball, we’re playing good baseball,” Wieneke said. “Tuesday will be fun. Hopefully we can play well.”

MCC 12, LQPV 1 (5 innings)

MCC 011 64 – 12 9 2

LQPV 001 00 – 1 4 2

Hitting: MCC (Degreef 3H, 3 RBI; Kleven 1H, 2 RBI; Paulzine 1H, RBI; Deacon 2H, RBI; Tentinger 1H, 2 RBI; Benda 1H, 2 RBI).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): MCC (Paulzine 4.2-1-1-4-1-4; Degreef 0.1-0-0-0-1).