Game set for Friday night at Russ Jacobson Field, winner to advance to state

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The New York Mills Millers and Bluffton Braves will meet for the right to advance to the state amateur baseball tournament this week. The two championship game will be a rematch of last year’s Region 14C finals that saw the Millers edge the Braves by a score of 6-3 to advance to their first state tournament in five years. 

The game was originally scheduled for Sunday, but inclement weather forced the postponement of the game to Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Russ Jacobson Field in NY Mills.

The Millers advanced to the championship game after picking up a pair of wins over Park Rapids by a score of 4-0 and Midway by a score of 4-3. 

Bluffton advanced to the finals after defeating Nimrod in the opening round, before upending top seeded Perham by a score of 9-1 behind a strong performance on the mound by Josh Dykhoff. The Braves pitcher finished with 14 strike outs in the game to set up a rematch of last year’s finals. 

The winner of the game will advance to state and will play on Saturday evening against the team that comes out of the elimination bracket for seeding at state. The loser will fall into the elimination bracket and will need to defeat the team out of the elimination bracket to punch their ticket to the state tournament. Games on Saturday will be held in Perham. 

Friday

Austin Maneval came just four batters away from a perfect game on Friday night as he threw a 1-hit shutout over Park Rapids. The lone hit Maneval gave up was with one out in the top of the first inning and just three more hitters would reach base safely on an error, a hit batter and a walk as the Millers defeated the Esox by a score of 4-0 in the opening round of the Region 14C tournament. 

Brandon Kupfer broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single, before Collin Teich broke the game wide open in the bottom of the fourth inning with a bases clearing double to give the Millers a 4-0 lead. 

It was all Maneval from there as he retired 15 straight batters from the third through top of the eighth innings and struck out 11 hitters on the day. 

Kupfer led the way offensively with 3 hits, while Derin Gaudette finished the day with 2 runs scored and a pair of hits and Teich finished with 3 RBIs. 

AB R H     BI

Derin Gaudette 4 2 2 0

Collin Teich 4 0 1 3

Brandon Kupfer 4 0 3 1

Maison Roberts 4 0 0 0

Austin Maneval 3 0 0 0

Shawn Schmitz 1 0 0 0

Bode Roberts 4 0 1 0

Brayden Ehnert 2 1 1 0

Shawn Schmitz 1 0 0 0

Adam Patron 2 0 0 0

Jonah Johnson 2 1 0 0

Derik Gaudette 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Collin Teich

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Austin Maneval 9.0-1-0-0-1-11

Saturday

NY Mills improved to 13-5 overall and just one win away from the state tournament with a 4-3 win over Midway in extra innings on Saturday night. 

Tied at 3-3 in the top of the 10th inning, Collin Teich hit a one out double, before advancing to third base when Derin Gaudette reached on one of 4 Midway errors. Brayden Ehnert followed with an RBI single to bring Teich across the plate to score what would be the winning run and a 4-3 lead. 

Gaudette put Midway down in order in the bottom of the 10th inning to bring the Millers just one win away from advancing to the state baseball tournament. 

Prior to Ehnert’s game winning hit, the Millers were down to what could have been their final out in the top of the ninth inning when Maison Roberts scored on an error by Midway’s third baseman with two outs to tie the game up at 3-3. That run came on the heels of a 3-run rally by Midway in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 3-2 lead and put the Millers in a big hole heading into the top of the ninth inning.

Ehnert led the way offensively with 3 RBIs and a pair of singles, while Teich finished with 2 hits and 2 runs in the win. 

Gaudette picked up the win on the mound as he went 3 innings in relief and gave up just 2 hits and 2 earned runs, while striking out 5 hitters. Skylar Mursu started the game and went 6 2/3 innings and gave up just 6 hits and no runs. 

AB R H     BI

Jacob Guck 5 1 0 0

Collin Teich 5 2 2 0

Derin Gaudette 4 0 0 0

Brayden Ehnert 5 0 2 3

Maison Roberts 5 1 1 0

Austin Maneval 5 0 0 0

Braxton Ehnert 3 0 0 0

Shawn Schmitz 4 0 0 0

Jonah Johnson 4 0 1 0

Skylar Mursu 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Maison Roberts, Collin Teich

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Skylar Mursu 6.2-6-0-0-4-2, Austin Maneval 0.1-0-1-1-1-0, Derin Gaudette 3.0-2-2-2-3-5