BELLE PLAINE - At the Class C state baseball tournament, the word "hero" might just be spelled "T-Y-L-E-R J-E-N-D-R-O."
The gritty right-hander picked up his fourth tournament win in relief of starter Kyle Peterschick and drove in the ultimate winning run with an 11th-inning single to give the Sobieski Skis a 4-1 victory over the Fergus Falls Hurricanes in Sunday afternoon's quarterfinal game.
Jendro had pitched three complete tournament game wins going into Sunday's matchup including a 4-0 no-hitter over New Market Saturday.
The win propelled the Skis into a semifinal matchup against Faribault at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Jordan with the winner advancing to Monday's Class C championship game at noon in Jordan.
Sobieski is the lone survivor of a strong showing by Region 8 entrants in the state tournament. Lastrup and Fort Ripley made it to the Sweet 16 of the 64-team tournament and Nisswa was eliminated in Sunday's quarterfinals.
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Jendro started in left field Sunday giving the mound to Peterschick who pitched eight strong innings before letting the leadoff batter reach first base on a third-strike wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth.
Jendro came on and needed just two pitches to quell the threat, getting the first batter to hit into a fielder's choice and the second to hit into a double play.
With the score knotted at 1-1, the game headed into extra innings.
After Sobieski went down in order in the 10th, Jendro allowed two singles in the bottom of the inning, but escaped without any further damage.
In the 11th, the Skis loaded the bases with nobody out on singles by Riley Hirsch and Joey Hanowski and an intentional walk to Jon Czech.
That brought Jendro to the plate batting for Aaron Hennes. He ripped the second pitch for a single to score Hirschey and chasing starter Kyle Shaikoski from the mound.
Josh Wenzel was hit by a pitch by reliever Peter Gaustad to force in another run and Tomas Miller hit into a fielder's choice that sent Andrew Lange, who was running for Czech, home with an insurance run.
Fergus Falls had grabbed a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first.
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In the top of the fifth, Sobieski loaded the bases with no outs on a single by Josh Wenzel and bunt singles by Jake Kluver and Nate Olson.
Collin Eckman hit into a double play that scored Wenzel and Beau Hanowski grounded out to end the threat.
Sobieski 4 11 3
Fergus Falls 1 8 0
WP: Tyler Jendro. LP: Kyle Shaikoski. 2B: FF-Jake Erickson. Next: Sobieski vs Faribault 7:30 p.m. Sunday; Sobieski/Faribault winner vs. Jordan/New Ulm winner for Class C title noon Monday at Jordan.
Jordan 6, Nisswa 2
BELLE PLAINE - Joe Lucas broke a 2-2 deadlock with a bases-loaded triple that led to a 6-2 triumph by the Jordan Brewers over the Nisswa Lightning in a quarterfinal game of the Class C state tournament Sunday.
Jordan drew first blood with a run in the top of the first, but Nisswa countered with two in the bottom of the frame.
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With one out, Aaron Jenkins, who already had hit three tournament home runs, drew an intentional walk. Jeremiah Piepkorn, who had three home runs in Saturday's game, singled and both runners advanced on a wild pitch.
Jenkins scored on a Jason Roepke ground out and Piepkorn reached home on Drew Boland's double.
Jordan added a run in the third to tie the score 2-2 which held until the ninth when the Brewers loaded the bases with one out leading to the triple by Lucas. Steven Beckman singled Lucas home for the final run and the Lightning were retired in order in the bottom of the ninth to end their season.
Nisswa managed just three hits off winning pitcher Jordan Hollingsworth - singles by Jenkins and Piepkorn and Boland's double.
Kyle Schaible took the loss for Nisswa, pitching all nine innings, striking out five and walking two while surrendering 11 hits and five earned runs.
Jordan 6 11 0
Nisswa 2 3 1
WP: Jordan Hollingsworth. LP: Kyle Schaible. 2B: N-Drew Boland; J-Paul Buss. 3B: J-Joe Lucas.
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Saturday's Games
Nisswa 14,
St. Patrick 4 (8 innings)
JORDAN - Jeremiah Piepkorn tied a tournament record by blasting three home runs to lead the Nisswa Lightning into the Elite 8 round with a 14-4 eight-inning victory over the St. Patrick Irish in Saturday's third round.
Nisswa fell behind early when Matthew Pexa hit a three-run homer. An RBI single by Matt Ambroz in the fifth made it 4-0 for St. Patrick.
In the bottom of the fifth, Piepkorn hit a grand slam over the wall in left-center. Drew Boland ripped an RBI single and Adam Hardy's sacrifice fly scored Boland with the sixth run of the inning.
Piepkorn's 2-run homer in the sixth made it 8-4 and then the Lightning put the game away with a 6-run bottom of the eighth.
Aaron Jenkins belted a two-run homer, his third of the tournament, to make it 10-4. Piepkorn then drilled his third homer of the game, a solo shot to center.
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Nisswa loaded the bases again leading to a two-run RBI single by Morgan Shepherd followed by an RBI single from Brett Jenkins that made it 14-4 and ended the game via the 10-run rule.
Jenkins finished 3-4 at the plate with two runs.
Nearly lost in the offensive fireworks was Jason Roepke's third complete-game win of the tournament.
St. Patrick 4 9 3
Nisswa 14 13 3
WP: Jason Roepke. LP: Josh Simon. 2B: SP-Simon. 3B: N-Drew Boland. HR: N-Jeremiah Piepkorn 3, Aaron Jenkins; SP-Matthew Pexa.
Sobieski 4, New Market 0
JORDAN - Tyler Jendro pitched the 22nd no-hitter in state tournament history as the Sobieski Skis shut out the New Market Muskies 4-0 in Saturday night's Sweet 16 game.
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Jendro struck out 14 and walked only one, that coming with two out in the ninth. It was his first career no-hitter and he only allowed two balls to get out of the infield. At one point, he retired 11 straight.
In three complete-game performances at the state tournament, Jendro has allowed only eight hits and one run while striking out 35 and walking just two.
He also drove in the first and ultimately the winning run for the Skis when he doubled to left-center in the fourth to score Riley Hirsch, who had singled.
Sobieski added an insurance run in the fifth when Colin Eckman bunted for a two-out single, stole second and scored on Beau Hanowski's single.
In the eighth, Beau Hanowski led off with a bunt single, was sacrificed to second and raced home on a single by Joey Hanowski, who took second on the throw home attempting to get the runner.
Jon Czech bounced one back to New Market pitcher Nate Rust who turned and saw Hanowski caught between second and third. Rust attempted to run him down, but Hanowski slid safely into third.
When Hanowski saw that the catcher had come to third base anticipating a run-down, he jumped up and sprinted home where no one was covering for the fourth and final run.
Sobieski 4 8 4
New Market 0 0 1
WP: Tyler Jendro. LP: Nate Rost. 2B: N-Jendro.
Winsted 6, Fort Ripley 2
JORDAN - Fort Ripley managed to hold a 2-1 lead against the stellar pitching of Winsted's Tony Kley until the eighth when the Wildcats erupted for five runs and eliminated the Rebels 6-2 in the Sweet 16 round Saturday.
After Winsted had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, the Rebels responded with two runs in the bottom of the stanza. Leadoff batter Bill Sather was hit by a pitch and scored on two subsequent errors that left Rhett Williamson on third with nobody out.
Williamson raced home when Brett Kramer hit a fielder's choice to the first baseman.
Ethan Branum started for the Rebels and went 6.1 innings, striking out five and walking one while allowing seven hits and one run, before giving way to Logan Kalis in the seventh.
Kalis had gotten relief wins in each of the previous two Fort Ripley state tournament games. But he hammered in the eighth, allowing four hits and five runs. A hit batter, wild pitch and two errors contributed to the Winsted comeback.
The Rebels managed just three hits off of Kley, who struck out 11 on his way to his third complete-game win of the tournament. He has struck out 42 in those three games.
Winsted 6 11 2
Fort Ripley 2 3 2
WP: Tony Kley. LP: Logan Kalis. 2B: .
Faribault 4, Lastrup 3
BELLE PLAINE - Adam Jensen cracked a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Faribault Lakers to a 4-3 victory that eliminated the Lastrup Lakers from the Class C state tournament Saturday.
After Faribault took a 1-0 lead, Lastrup tied it in the third when leadoff hitter Dan Saehr was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on an error.
Jason Sadlovsky scored with two out in the fourth on a third-strike wild pitch to Saehr. In the top of the seventh, Dustin Schmaltz ripped a leadoff solo homer that made it 3-1.
Matt Lane went the distance for Faribault, striking out 10, and was also 4-4 at the plate.
Chad Weiss stuck out seven in picking up the loss. Paul Herman and Nate Janson each had two hits for Lastrup.
Lastrup 3 8 1
Faribault 4 10 3
WP: Matt Lane. LP: Chad Weiss. HR: L-Dustin schmaltz; F-Adam Jensen.
