Photo by Samantha Davis. Minneota's Ryan Dalager throws a pitch in pregame warmups in Madison. Dalager was at the mound for eight innings and threw six strikeouts, as the Mudhens fell to Morris 7-0 Saturday afternoon in a state qualifying game and ending the season.

MADISON — The No. 1 Minneota Mudhens fell 7-0 to the second-seed Morris Eagles in a state qualifying game Saturday afternoon.

In the double elimination Region 9C tournament, three teams advance to state. The Mudhens finished the regular season as the Land O’ Ducks champion, to earn the top seed. The top four automatically earned a round one bye. Minneota won game one 2-1 over the No. 8 Chokio Coyotes, but fell to No. 5 Madison Mallards 8-0 to bump down to the elimination bracket. Yet, they responded with a 10-0 win over No. 11 Hancock Orphans in eight innings to get back into a position to fight for a ticket to state for the second straight year.

Ryan Dalager pitched eight innings for the Mudhens, allowing seven runs, four of which were earned, seven walks and threw six strikeouts. Danny Hennen pitched the final inning, allowing one hit. Brandon Jergenson pitched the entire game for Morris, allowing eight hits, no runs and threw four strikeouts. Ben Skorczewski and Hennen each had two doubles on the day to lead Minneota’s offense, and Tate Walerius had another. The Eagles were powered by a three-run second inning. Mac Beyer had two hits and three RBIs, including a homerun.

“Tough couple of innings to start the game got us down and it was tough to pick ourselves out of that,” Minneota manager Tyson Sonnenburg said. “Quick check of your emotions early, just trying to get those going again and get the boys excited. We never caught a break. Balls were hit hard, and ended up right in peoples gloves … Just didn’t go our way today.”

The game was bound to be competitive between the top two seeds. The last time they met on July 7, the Mudhens got away with a 2-0 victory backed by a nine-inning shutout from Dalager and striking out 14 batters.

Morris capitalized early in the game, which was enough to power them through the entire afternoon. Their first run came promptly in the top of the first, with a runner on second who came home on a single line drive to right field.

The Eagles returned quickly back at bat in the top of second after limiting Minneota to just one runner on base while cultivating three outs. They brought in three more runs for a 4-0 lead by a sacrifice fly to center field, and two field errors in center field and home plate with a runner on third each time.

“‘It’s four runs. It’s nothing guys, we are right there,'” Sonnenburg said about what he told the team. “‘We can still do this. Try to keep at it, keep battling away and chip away.'”

Dalager threw three strikeouts in the top of the third to help pause the Eagle’s offense. On the returning offense, three Mudhens got on base, but Morris stopped their chances with two fly ball catches and a strikeout.

The third through seventh innings remained scoreless for both teams.

Minneota got some momentum going on offense in the bottom of the fifth with a double to left field from Hennen. Skorczewski hit a single ground ball to second base, advancing Hennen to third with two outs. However, a pop out at first base ended the chance for any runs.

The score remained 4-0 Morris up going into the top of the sixth.

As time began to run down for the Mudhens going into the top of the seventh, solid defense continued to halt Morris’ offense. On top of a strikeout and fly ball catch infield from Dalager, Sonnenburg also caught a deep fly ball in center field. Minneota needed answers at the plate. With two outs, Walerius hit a deep double to left field, but a ground out to the pitcher ended the inning.

Morris added one more run in the top of the eighth. With a player advancing to third after a passed ball, he also ran in from an overthrow to the mound from Walerius, making the score 5-0.

Hennen relieved Dalager at the mound in the top of the ninth after an Eagle’s two-run homerun, creating a larger 7-0 deficit.

“He (Dalager) gave us eight strong innings, that’s all we can ask from him,” Sonnenburg said. “We just got to play better defense behind him.”

In the Mudhen’s last chance to bat in the bottom of the ninth, two force outs at first and a fly ball to left field concluded the game.

As Minneota’s season comes to an end, there are several attributes the team is proud of.

“I think we battled a lot of adversity all season. We were missing a lot of guys throughout the year, had a lot of guys stepping up and filling spots,” Sonnenburg said. “We kind of like to say, ‘Next man up.’ It’s the next person up, and we expect them to do a job for us. Whether a person has played one game all season or 10, we expect them to do a job for us.”

This was Mudhen’s 16th season, as they became a franchise in 2009. They were the 2023 Region 9C champions and earned their first state tournament berth. They finished this season as the region’s top-seed and with a 15-8 overall record.

“I hope everyone sticks together, comes back strong next season, wants to keep playing and keep this thing going,” Sonnenburg said. “We’ve had some nice seasons recently, and put ourselves in a good position to get to state. We got there last year and it was a lot of fun. So, hopefully next year, we can stick together and make another state run.”