ST. CLOUD– The Yellow Medicine East Sting baseball team shut out the Hinckley-Finlayson High School 11-0 in five innings in the consolation bracket of the MSHSL state baseball tournament on Wednesday morning.

The Sting got off to a hot start scoring five runs in the first top half of the inning. Leadoff hitter Cody Dahlager had three hits and scored three runs in the victory. Bryce Sneller had two hits including a double in the ballgame. Jake Odegard led the Sting in RBIs with two including a sacrifice fly

YME scored in four of their five innings and Drew Almich threw a complete game shutout allowing only three hits and striking out nine. Almich also had a hit and scored a run in the win.

The YME Sting (18-4) will now play later today against the winner of South Ridge or Legacy Christian Academy for the right to be the consolation winner.

The first pitch of that game will start at 2:30 p.m.

ST CLOUD– The Yellow Medicine East Sting baseball team fell to South Ridge High School 5-1 in the consolation championship game in the MSHSL state baseball tournament on Wednesday afternoon. With the loss, YME concludes their season with an 18-5 record.

The Sting got to an early lead behind a Braden Nelson RBI single and led 1-0 after three innings.

However, that would be the only run scored by YME.

In the ensuing four innings, Southridge scored in every one of them, winning going away 5-1. Dahlager and Sneller were the only other batters in the game for the Sting that had hits in the loss.

Dahlager went six innings and allowed one earned run, eight hits, and struck out six.

YME head coach Trevor Schultz spoke on the performance of his team in two games.

“The first game went well,” Schultz said. “We put together great at-bats. We took advantage of their miscues and got back to who we are. That first initial game of the tournament against New Ulm Cathedral, that wasn’t us. I’m not sure if it was the nerves or the moment, but we didn’t play YME baseball.

We looked pretty good defensively and Almich pitched a great game. In the second game, Their pitcher did a great job keeping us off balance. I thought we played pretty well but most of the balls we hit to their players. We played well defensively. Cody threw a good game for us and it was a well-played baseball game that just didn’t go our way.”

Schultz elaborated on the kind of season it was with this group of kids.

“We could write a whole book together talking about these kids,” Schultz said. ” This has been a great season, a great ride. These kids have picked up the torch from a couple of seasons ago from the past teams and carried it well. We have had great senior leadership down from Bryce Sneller, and Cody Dahlager, they both have been very solid for us. Jake Odegard, Nolan Hildahl, and Landon Anderson have been solid, quiet leaders for us. Just an all-around great season. I have been blessed with this group of kids. It just epitomizes the time, and work, the kids and coaching staff put in. Probably early in the season, the only people that thought we had a chance to win the section were us, and the family. We had a great turnout here at the state tournament and it shows that this is a really special time bringing our community together. They’ve epitomized in every sense of being a true team. The message is now that once you get a taste of it, you want that again. Always being humble but every day trying to get better.”