MINNEAPOLIS-Playing in their first state tournament since 1999, the No. 4-seeded Little Falls Flyers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the No. 3-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret Red Knights 3-2 in the Class 3A third-place game Friday at Dick Siebert Field on the campus of the University of Minnesota.
Trailing 2-0, the Flyers led off the fifth inning with back-to-back triples by Austin Weis and Austin Jenks and a single by Mitch Boros to tie the score. Thomas Miller walked to put two on with nobody out, but two ground outs and a strikeout ended the inning.
The Flyers loaded the bases on three walks in the sixth and a two-out balk by Red Knights relief pitcher Jack Qualen plated the eventual winning run.
Justin Jenks went the distance for the win retiring six in a row over the last two innings. He only allowed two hits and two unearned runs while striking out three and walking one.
Weis' second-inning single was the only other hit for the Flyers who left seven runners on base over six innings.
ADVERTISEMENT
Benilde-St, Margaret's scored an unearned run in the second and another in the fourth on a hit and a pair of Little Falls errors.
Taking the loss was BSM starter Alex Houlihan who took a shutout into the fifth inning. He allowed three runs on four hits in 5.1 innings, striking out four.
Little Falls finishes 21-6.
Earlier Friday, top-ranked and top-seeded Mahtomedi used a four-run second inning to defeat the Flyers 4-1in the semifinals.
Flyers' starter Mitch Boros turned in a strong performance pitching a complete game in which he scattered eight hits while walking only one and striking out one. Three of the four runs scored against him were unearned due to a pair of fielding errors.
Mahtomedi took advantage of a lead-off walk, three hits and the two miscues in the second inning to go up 4-0.
Miller drove in Austin Jenks in the third inning with a single for the only Flyers' run, one of just four hits they were able to get off of Zephyrs starter Mitch Nordin.
Little Falls threatened again in the fourth when it loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a two-out single by Jenks before Boros popped out to end the inning.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Flyers did not get another baserunner as Nordin retired the next nine batters.
Hunter Swanson and Braden Backowski accounted for the other two Little Falls hits.
Mahtomedi is 21-5 and has won 11 in a row. It faces unseeded Henry Sibley for the Class 3A championship 4 p.m. Monday at Target Field.
Semifinal
Little Falls 001 000 0 - 1 4 2
Mahtomedi 040 000 x - 4 8 0
WP: Mitch Nordin. LP: Mitch Boros. 2B: M-Trevor Moses. Overall: LF 20-6. Next: Class 3A state tournament, third place at Dick Siebert Field 5 p.m. Friday.
Third Place
ADVERTISEMENT
Benilde-St. Margaret's 010 100 0 - 2 2 0
Little Falls 000 021 x - 3 4 3
WP: Justin Jenks. LP: Alex Houlihan. 2B: BSM-R. Simonetti. 3B: LF-Austin Weis, Austin Jenks. LF finishes 21-6.
