New Life Academy rallied to end sixth-seeded St. Croix Lutheran's Cinderella run with a 9-7 victory in the loser's bracket to advance in Class 2A, Section 4 at the HealthEast Sports Center in Woodbury.
The second-seeded Eagles trailed the entire game until scoring seven runs in the sixth inning. Zach Thor led the Eagles with two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. Noah Rodriguez and Colin Quirk had two hits, one run and one RBI each, Cooper Falteisek scored two runs and Mark Morrison had two RBI for the Eagles.
Jon VandenBosch had two hits and four RBI to lead the Crusaders and Seth Goplen and Samuel Wondrasch scored two runs each.
In other baseball section play:
Class 4A, Section 1: Lakeville North defeated Farmington 9-0 to advance to the state tournament for the sixth consecutive year. Nick Juaire became the Lakeville North's career hits leader with three, including a double. He also had two runs and an RBI. Collin Denk pitched a two-hit complete game shutout while striking out seven. He also had two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Nathaniel Peterson had three hits, including a home run, and three RBI and Zach Breeden had two hits and two RBI for the Panthers.
Class 4A, Section 3: Justin Firpo pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout to lead Apple Valley past Burnsville 3-0 in the loser's bracket.
Class 3A, Section 6: Benilde-St. Margaret's scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to knock defending Class 3A champion Waconia out of the section playoffs. Clyde Sellke led the Knights with three hits, one run and two RBI. Evan Brown had two hits and two RBI and Harrison Shibley had two RBI for the Knights.
Class 3A, Section 5: Rocori defeated Monticello 11-4 to force another game for the section title. The Spartans built a 7-0 lead after 4½ innings. The Magic responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth but could not get any closer.
Class 3A, Section 3: Top-seeded South St. Paul defeated Holy Angels 5-3 to advance to the state tournament for the first time since 1969. Ben Smith struck out six over six innings for the Packers and Timmy Smith had two hits. Keagan Bagley and Mason Wolf each had two hits for the Stars.
Class 1A, Section 4: Taylor Brodersen drove in Jonny Flynn from second in the bottom of the seventh inning to send top-seeded Heritage Christian to the final with a 5-4 victory over Mayer Lutheran. The Eagles scored four runs in the fifth inning to tie the score. The fourth-seeded Crusaders scored one run in the second and third innings before Branden Carlson hit a two-run triple in the fourth.
staff reports
