The #2 seed, Central Minnesota Christian, from the North half of the bracket, played the Murray County Central Rebels, the #2 seed in the South half of Section 3A in the baseball playoffs on Thursday night for the chance to advance to the Final Four. TMB defeated Lakeview in the game before the Rebels, with the winner of MCC vs. CMC taking on the Panthers, Saturday.
The Rebels won the coin flip, which determines who is the home team and who is the away team. A definite advantage, knowing you get to hit last, if need be.
Senior Abe Paulzine would take the hill for the Rebels in the ‘win or go home’ contest. The Bluejays have been known for their hitting this season and they looked to start hot.
CMC’s leadoff batter would smash a line drive to right field. Luckily it was right at Dylan Kluis on the first pitch of the game. On the second pitch of the game, the Bluejays lined a single and reached second on a throwing error. Paulzine would regroup and strikeout the next batter, but the clean up hitter stepped to the plate next and smashed a single to center field, scoring the first run of the game. Paulzine struck out the next batter to get the Rebels out of the inning.
MCC did what they do best and answered right back behind the power of some of their veteran players. Carter Benda led the game off with a double to the wall in left center. After a Derek Kluis pop out, Christian Tentinger doubled, scoring Benda. This was followed by an Abe Paulzine double, scoring Tentinger. Two pop outs ended the inning, but the Rebels did some damage and gained a lot of confidence.
CMC came back in the top of the second and after a lead off walk, the Bluejays would pop out and sacrifice bunt the lead off batter to second base. This was followed by a long towering fly ball to left field that would end up in an RBI double to tie the game at two. And that is where the score would stay going into the bottom of the second.
This inning didn’t start very promising for the Rebels, as two of the first three batters struck out. In between the strikeouts, Krew Schneider drew what would be a huge walk and circle the lineup back to the top of the order. Carter Benda mashed another ball for a single. This was followed by a Derek Kluis single that scored Schneider from second base. Power hitting Christian Tentinger came up to the plate next and drilled another double to left field, scoring Benda and advancing Kluis to third. The inning would end on a Paulzine fly out, but the Rebels regained the lead 4-2 going into the top half of the third.
Paulzine faced only four batters in the inning, settling in nicely, mixing up his pitches and getting the Bluejay batters off balance. Abe struck out two batters and picked off a runner on first base, with a headsy play, snapping a throw over to first base as the runner looked at the ground. Tentinger put the tag on and ended the inning.
The Rebels looked to add more runs in the bottom half of the third and with a lead off linedrive single, Jaden Deacon got the rally started. Connor DeGreeff put the ball in play and reached on an error, which advanced Deacon to third. DeGreeff then stole second in the first and third situation, bringing Dylan Kluis to the plate with two runners in scoring position. Kluis singled in Deacon and advanced De-Greeff to third. Krew Schneider followed the single with another single. After a ground out advanced Schneider to third, Carter Benda singled again ,driving in Schneider. Benda stole second and reached third on an errant throw. Derek Kluis singled, scoring courtesy runner Gavin Gillette. Christian Tentinger singled as well, putting runners on first and second base. A fielder’s choice ground out by Paulzine advanced the runners. A Deacon ground out would end the inning, but the Damage was already done, and it was all done with two outs. The Rebels scored 5 runs after the Krew Scheider walk, all with two outs.
The Rebels wanted to keep the pitch count down on senior pitcher Abe Paulzine’s arm during this playoff push and his top of the fourth inning went a long way in helping that cause. A five pitch inning got the Rebels off the field and back in the batter’s box, forcing three ground outs, one to third baseman Krew Schneider and the other two to second baseman Connor DeGreeff.
The bottom of the fourth played out a lot like the bottom of the third. MCC started the inning off with two quick outs. Two pitches, two outs. Krew Schneider earned another walk with two outs to give the Rebels some life. Tanner Graphenteen would reach on an error by the second baseman, who dropped the pop fly. This was followed by another error, which put the speedy Carter Benda on base again and score Krew Schneider on the same error.
The Bluejay outfield shifted heavily towards left field and that makes this next hit by Derek Kluis so impressive. Kluis, noticing the large shift, changed his approach in the box and sat back on the Bluejay pitch, looping the ball down the right field line. Kluis would turn this into a triple, scoring two runs. Christian Tentinger followed the Kluis triple with a triple of his own, with a deep ball to the left center field fence. Abe Paulzine got hit by a pitch. This was followed by a line drive single by Jaden Deacon, scoring courtesy runner Teague Meyer. Connor De-Greeff was then hit by a pitch and pinch hitter Aidan Dierks drove a ball into the left center field gap, but a nice catch would end the inning. MCC went into the top of the fifth with a 15-2 lead.
Paulzine faced one more batter, which kept his pitch count under 51. This means, he would only need one day off before he would be available to pitch again. Senior Derek Kluis came in for some relief work in the top of the fifth. Kluis gave up one hit, struck out two, and forced a ground out to Connor DeGreeff to end the inning and the game.
MCC earned a trip to the final four and will face TMB, who beat them in the second round of section play in a nail biter, 8-7. This game will take place in Milroy at 2:30.
