Photo by Samantha Davis. Milroy Irish third baseman Andrew Wallen throws the ball to first base after fielding a hit against Windom in the Region 10C championship Friday night at the Irish Yard. Milroy fell 3-1, and next enter the Class C State Tournament as the 2-seed.

MILROY — The Milroy Irish have earned the second seed out of Region 10C for the upcoming Class C State Tournament after falling to the Windom Pirates in a nailbiting 3-1 loss Friday night in the region championship due to a Pirates’ late offensive surge in the ninth.

With the victory, Windom takes the first seed in the state tournament, claiming two consecutive wins over the Irish in a best-of-3 series.

“First and foremost, that’s [Windom] a dang-good team over in that dugout, you got to tip your cap to them,” Milroy’s Anthony Dolan said. “Holding them to a few runs tonight, and our pitching did a great job. [We] just got to get our bats going to get that clutch hit on the offensive side.”

After four scoreless innings to begin the game, Windom scored in the fifth to take a brief lead, before Anthony Dolan scored the game-tying run in the seventh stealing home off a Pirates’ defensive error. Windom responded with two runs in the ninth in its final at-bat for the win.

The Irish (16-10) and Pirates (23-1) will next compete in the Class C State Tournament, which is familiar territory for the two, but both will be making their return after a three and four-year hiatus.

Milroy will be making its appearance at state for the first time since 2022, while Windom is returning after its most recent 2021 appearance.

“I’ve said it all year, our pitching and defense has gotten us to this spot,” Anthony Dolan said. “I have all the confidence in the world in our pitching and our defense. We just got to get the bats going.”

After a competitive pitchers-duel to begin the game with four scoreless innings, Windom got on the board with a run in the top of the fifth.

Jackson draftee Ryan Rasche threw the first five innings for Milroy, tossing six strikeouts. Trevor Smith went in as relief for the next three, before Jackson draftee Will Larson stepped up in the ninth.

Fox Lake’s Gravlin Paxton was on the mound for Windom for seven innings and threw a game-high nine strikeouts, before Collin Lovell relieved the rest of the night for the save.

Windom’s Josh Garrison hit a line-drive single to left field, and advanced to second off a sacrifice bunt. Jake Tauer also hit a line drive and reached second off a Milroy defensive error to bring Garrison into scoring position at third.

Garrison reached home off a Keenan Wenzel RBI single, and Milroy’s Derek Smith tagged Tauer out at the plate who was also trying to score off the same hit.

Derek Smith had a competitive performance protecting the plate for Milroy through his six innings, who made another tag-out at the plate in the top of the sixth to prevent another Windom run, attempting to score off an RBI double.

Yet two innings later, Anthony Dolan came up big to keep Milroy in the game in the bottom of the seventh with a run to tie the game up, 1-1.

Anthony Dolan was initially walked and advanced to second after Trevor was hit by a pitch. Anthony Dolan proceeded to steal third base off a passed ball, and took home when Dominic Dolan offered a bunt and Windom’s catcher attempted to throw Anthony Dolan out leading off third.

An overthrow allowed Anthony Dolan to safely steal home, urging loud cheers from the dugout and crowd.

“I drew a walk to lead-off, and I just wanted to make something happen,” Anthony Dolan said of scoring the run. “I moved up to third on a pass ball, and then we tried to put on a suicide bunt. Dominic didn’t get it down, and then I had to recover back to third, then advanced to home on the [over] throw.”

Following a scoreless eighth inning, Larson tossed two strikeouts in the top of the ninth to hold Windom without an answer.

But, Windom’s Wenzel hit a two-run RBI triple line drive to center field with two outs to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead, minutes before Milroy stepped up for its final at bat.

Looking to force the series to a game three, the game came to an end in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of Milroy dropped-three strike outs at first, and a strikeout.

Milroy opened the game in the first inning with two fielding errors, allowing Windom to get two runners on base. But, a Rasche strikeout and plays from Dominic Dolan and Andrew Wallen set the defensive tone early to limit the Pirates from any opening runs.

The Irish and Pirates fought defensively off one another the entire night with minimal errors and good looks at the plate.

Paxton tossed three straight strikeouts in the bottom of the first in Milroy’s first at-bat, while Rasche returned the favor in the top of the second with retiring a trio of Windom batters.

The Irish finished the night with three hits and three errors, to Windom’s nine hits and trio of errors.

Friday also marked the final home game of the season for Milroy, who brought its fans a plethora of wins and memories this year going 9-4 at the Irish Yard.

“We got the best fans in the area. Game in and game out, these fans are showing up, cheering us on, being rowdy for us,” Anthony Dolan said. “It’s a heck of a crowd. We can’t do the things we do without the support we have. Absolutely huge that our fans show up like they do for us. So, it’s always fun to play here in front of them and have a good time.”

Both the Irish and Pirates have had a successful playoff run to reach the region championship, which is used to determine who gets the first and second seeds at state.

Milroy swept the series over Lakefield and Jackson to clinch its spot in state. The Pirates similarly defeated both Fox Lake and Hadley in two games.

Windom and Milroy have been tough competition throughout the entirety of Region 10C. Coming into the championship series, Milroy entered on a seven-game win streak, three of which were shutouts.

The Pirates, prior to Wednesday’s first game against Milroy, were riding a 15-game win streak and it’s been nearly two months since Windom’s last loss of the season on June 11 to Fairmont, 5-2, also its lone loss of the year.

Milroy fell to Windom on Wednesday 4-3 in game one. Despite the loss, the Irish were the only team to finish within a run to the Pirates since the Jackson Bulls in a 2-1 loss on June 22.

The Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament will take place between the grounds of Brownton, Hutchinson, Gaylord and Glencoe, beginning next weekend. The schedule is to be released in the coming days.

“The mindset [going to state] is to just have fun,” Anthony Dolan said. “State tournament is a lot of fun. You get a hotel room, you stay overnight, and you have fun with the boys … Stay loose and play good baseball.”