Braves fall to elimination bracket

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The New York Mills Millers defeated the Bluffton Braves by a score of 6-3 on Sunday afternoon to advance to their first state baseball tournament since 2017. 

The Millers opened the Region 14C tournament with a 5-0 win over Midway, before defeating Deer Creek by a score of 15-1 on Saturday. 

On Sunday, NY Mills scored 3 runs in the top of the ninth inning to come away with a 6-3 win over the Braves to make a return to state. 

The Braves advanced to the Region 14C championship by defeating Park Rapids 15-2 and Perham by a score of 5-4 in 10 innings.

The Braves will drop to the elimination bracket and will play on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the right to advance to state. They will play one of the teams who have advanced through the elimination bracket. 

The Region 14C championship will be held on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Perham. The Millers will play the team that comes through the elimination bracket. 

The state tournament will get underway August 19-21 in Fairbault, Dundas and Miesville. 

Saturday

Austin Maneval gave up just 3 hits and struck out 12 batters in a 5-0 win over Midway on Saturday. The Millers were aided by some timely hitting as all 5 of their runs came with two outs. 

The Millers opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when Brandon Kupfer connected with an RBI single that brought Jacob Guck in from third base. 

The Millers added 2 more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when Ethan Hendrickx hit a two out single that brought Derin Gaudette and Kupfer across the plate to make the score 3-0 in favor of NY Mills. 

Just one inning later, Gaudette made the game 5-0 when he hit a 2-run home run. 

Hendrickx led the way offensively with 3 hits and a pair of RBIs. 

Maneval threw a complete game shut out. He gave up just 3 hits and struck out 12 batters. 

In their second game of the day, Gaudette finished with 3 hits and 6 RBIs, while Kupfer finished with 4 RBIs of his own as the Millers blew past Deer Creek by a score of 15-1. 

After Deer Creek scored a run in the top of the first inning, the Millers answered in a big way in the bottom half of the inning with a 3-run home run by Gaudette. 

NY Mills added 2 more runs in the second inning when Jonah Johnson hit a two out RBI double and Gaudette added an RBI single of his own to make the score 5-0. 

The Millers added 4 more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, as well as 3 more runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to end the game early by the 10-run rule. 

Caden Roberts picked up the win on the mound after pitching 7 innings and giving up no earned runs. He struck out 10 hitters and gave up just 5 hits. 

AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 2 1 1 0

Jonah Johnson 4 0 0 0

Derin Gaudette 4 2 2 2

Brandon Kupfer 4 1 2 1

Tyler Patron 3 0 0 0

Caden Roberts 4 0 1 0

Ethan Hendrickx 4 0 3 2

Adam Patron 3 0 0 0

Maison Roberts 1 0 0 0

Collin Teich 3 1 1 0

HITTING- 2B- Ethan Hendrickx; HR- Derin Gaudette

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Austin Maneval 9-3-0-0-5-12

AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 4 2 0 0

Jonah Johnson 4 3 3 2

Derin Gaudette 4 2 3 6

Brandon Kupfer 5 1 2 4

Tyler Patron 2 0 1 1

Drey Roberts 0 0 0 0

Caden Roberts 4 0 1 1

Ethan Hendrickx 3 0 0 0

Maison Roberts 1 1 1 0

Adam Patron 4 3 2 0

Collin Teich 3 2 2 0

Bren Salo 0 1 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Derin Gaudette, Jonah Johnson (2), Maison Roberts; HR- Derin Gaudette

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Caden Roberts 7-5-1-0-1-10

Sunday

NY Mills punched its first trip to the state baseball tournament in five years on Sunday night as the Millers defeated the top seed from the Hi-10 in the Bluffton Braves by a score of 6-3.

Tied at 3-3 heading into the top of the ninth inning, Maison Roberts earned a one out walk, before Adam Patron flied out to left field for the second out of the inning.

Justin Dykhoff walked the next batter, before Roberts scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball to give the Millers a 4-3 lead. Jonah Johnson followed with a single to load up the bases with two outs. 

Derin Gaudette then followed with an RBI single, before Jacob Guck walked with the bases loaded to give the Millers a 6-3 lead. 

In the bottom half of the ninth inning, Cody Geiser walked with two outs, but was stranded on first base when the inning ended.

Gaudette led the way offensively for the Millers as he went 3-5 with an RBI. Johnson also finished with a pair of hits in the win. 

For the Braves, Tom Tellers and Payton Rondestvedt finished with a pair of hits apiece. 

Gaudette picked up the win for the Millers as he went all 9 innings and gave up 9 hits, but just 1 earned run. He struck out 4 hitters.

Josh Dykhoff started the game for the Braves and pitched 8 innings, while striking out 4 hitters and giving up just 1 earned run. Justin Dykhoff gave up 3 runs in the top of the ninth inning and walked 4 hitters. 

AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 4 2 0 0

Jonah Johnson 4 0 2 0

Derin Gaudette 5 0 3 1

Brandon Kupfer 3 0 0 0

Ethan Hendrickx 5 0 0 0

Caden Roberts 4 1 1 0

Maison Roberts 3 1 0 0

Adam Patron 4 0 1 1

Collin Teich 3 2 1 0

Tyler Patron 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Derin Gaudette

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Caden Roberts 7-5-1-0-1-10

AB R H     BI

Payton Rondestvedt 5 0 2 0

Josh Dykhoff 4 0 1 0

Jake Dykhoff 4 1 1 0

Justin Dykhoff 3 0 0 1

Wyatt Hamann 4 0 1 1

Kyle Dykhoff 5 0 0 0

Cody Geiser 3 0 1 0

Isaac Hamann 4 0 1 0

Tom Tellers 4 1 2 0

HITTING- 2B- Jake Dykhoff

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Josh Dykhoff 8-6-3-1-2-4, Justin Dykhoff 1-2-3-3-4-0