NYM to open state against Cold Spring on Saturday

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Two area teams separated by less than 10 miles on Highway 10 will be making a trek to the state amateur baseball tournament beginning this weekend. 

The Buffton Braves captured their third straight region title with a pair of wins over Perham and New York Mills last weekend, while the Millers will be making their first state tournament in five years after qualifying for state last weekend. 

The Braves, on the other hand, have made a habit of advancing to the state tournament as they will be making their fifth straight trip to the Twin Cities. Last year the Braves advanced to the round of 16, before falling to the Sartell Muskies by a score of 11-1. 

As the region champions, the Braves have received a bye in the opening round of state and will take on either the Kimball Express who were the runner ups in Region 11, or the Hutchinson Huskies who were the third place finishers in Region 12. That game will be held on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 1:30 p.m. in Faribault. If the Braves win their game on Aug. 27, they will advance to the final 16 during Labor Day weekend in Dundas. Their final 16 game will be held on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 11 a.m. 

The Class C state championship will be on Monday, Sept. 5 at 12 p.m. in Faribault. 

The NY Mills Millers on the other hand will take on the Cold Spring Rockies, who finished in fourth place in Region 11 on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Dundas. The winner of the game will take on the Watertown Red Devils on Sunday, Aug, 28 in Faribault. Last season Watertown finished as the state runner ups after falling to Sobieski by a score of 3-0 in the finals. 

In a rematch of last week’s winner’s bracket championship game, the Bluffton Braves and NY Mills Millers squared off for the Region 14C title on Saturday. Last week it was the Millers who topped the Braves by a score of 6-3, but this time around the Braves captured the title and advanced to their fifth straight state tournament with a 6-2 win.

Bluffton advanced to the title game after defeating Perham by a score of 4-0 earlier in the day to qualify for state and Saturday’s championship game earned a bye in the first round of the state tournament.

The Braves edged the Millers, in part, thanks to a big 4-run bottom of the third inning thanks to a two out RBI single that brought Jake Dykhoff across the plate to score to make the game 1-0. After a walk loaded up the bases, Tom Tellers earned a second straight walk to force in a run to make the game 2-0 in favor of Bluffton.

The final runs of the inning came on a 2-run single by Isaac Hamann to make the score 4-0. 

NY Mills answered with a run of their own in the top of the fourth inning when Ethan Hendrickx connected on a two out single to bring Jonah Johnson across the plate to cut Bluffton’s lead to 4-1. However, Wyatt Hamann answered the score in the bottom half of the inning on another two out single to keep the Braves in front by a score of 5-1. Bluffton made the score 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning on a fielder’s choice, before Derin Gaudette scored the final run of the inning for either team when he hit a home run for NY Mills over the left field fence in the top of the sixth inning to make the score 6-2 in favor of the Braves. 

NY Mills had a chance to tie the game in the top half of the ninth inning when the tying run came up to the plate with two outs, but Justin Dykhoff was able to strike out the final hitter of the game to help the Braves come away with a 6-2 win and their third straight Region 14C title. 

Josh Dykhoff picked up the win on the mound for the Braves after he pitched 8 innings and gave up just 5 hits and 2 earned runs. He also struck out 14 hitters. 

Logan Small took the loss for the Millers after he gave up 4 earned runs and 3 hits in just 2 2/3 innings of action. He also walked 5 hitters. 

AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 3 0 0 0

Maison Roberts 1 0 0 0

Jonah Johnson 3 1 0 0

Derin Gaudette 4 1 1 1

Tyler Patron 4 0 0 0

Ethan Hendrickx 3 0 2 1

Caden Roberts 3 0 1 0

Bode Roberts 1 0 0 0

Logan Small 2 0 1 0

Drey Roberts 2 0 0 0

Adam Patron 3 0 0 0

Collin Teich 2 0 0 0

Brandon Kupfer 2 0 1 0

HITTING- HR- Derin Gaudette

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Logan Small 2 2/3-3-4-4-5-5, Drey Roberts 5 1/3-4-2-2-1-2

AB R H     BI

Payton Rondestvedt 4 0 0 0

Josh Dykhoff 5 0 0 1

Jake Dykhoff 5 1 1 0

Justin Dykhoff 5 1 1 0

Wyatt Hamann 2 1 2 1

Kyle Dykhoff 3 1 1 1

L Pulju 0 2 0 0

Cody Barthel 1 0 0 0

Tom Tellers 1 0 0 1

C Davis 2 0 1 0

Isaac Hamann 3 0 1 2

HITTING- 2B- C Davis

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Josh Dykhoff 8-5-2-2-1-14, Justin Dykhoff 1-1-0-0-2-2

Photo by Chad Koenen

Jacob Guck has helped the New York Mills Millers advance to their first state tournament in five years after they defeated Bluffton by a score of 6-2 last weekend.