NYM to take on top seeded Madelia in opening round of state


By Chad Koenen

Publisher

After a one-year hiatus, the NY Mills Eagles will be making a return to the state baseball tournament after completing a remarkable run through the Section 5A tournament, including a pair of wins over the top seeded Sebeka Trojans. The two wins in the section tournament avenged a pair of losses to the Trojans in the regular season and set up the Eagles for their first trip to state since taking home the consolation championship in 2024. 

The Eagles opened their week last week with a 6-2 win over Mille Lacs to advance to the Section 5A title game, before downing the Trojans by a score of 5-4 in nine innings in walk-off action.

The Eagles enter the state tournament with a record of 16-10 overall (QRF ranking of 11) and received the eighth seed in the tournament. They will take on top seeded Madelia, 26-3 overall and a QRF ranking of two, in the opening round of the state tournament. 

The winner of the game will take on either fifth seeded Ogilvie, 19-6 overall and a QRF ranking of eight, or fourth seeded Murray County Central, 21-1 overall and a QRF ranking of six, in the semifinals on Friday at Joe Faber Field at 1:30 p.m., while the two losing teams will play on Friday, June 12 at Cold Spring Baseball Park at 12:15 p.m. in the consolation bracket. 

On the other side of the bracket, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, 17-6 overall, received the seventh seed and will take on second seeded Red Lake County, 25-2 overall in the opening round of state on Thursday. Sixth seeded Brandon-Evansville, 23-2 overall, will take on third seeded South Ridge, who is 22-5 overall on Thursday.

The state championship game will be held on Monday, June 15 at Target Field at 10 a.m., while the third place game will be held on Friday, June 12 at 3:30 p.m. at Joe Faber Field. 

Monday

Finn Roder allowed just two hits and struck out nine batters in a 6-2 win over Mille Lacs in the championship game of the Section 5A winners bracket on Monday night. Roder allowed two runs and walked seven batters, but gave up just two runs on a two-run home run in the top of the third inning.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning when the Raiders committed an error, Evan Doll hit into a fielder’s choice and Eli Vaughan hit an RBI single to left field to make the score 3-0.

After the Raiders cut into the Eagles lead a bit in the top of the third inning, NY Mills answered with a pair of runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Doll single and Eli Vaughan scoring after tagging up at third base when the Mille Lacs catcher caught a pop up in foul territory and no one was home to cover the base. Grady Roberts made the score 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning on a fielder’s choice to help the Eagles come away with the win and pull within one game of a return to state.

Bergen Roder led the team offensively with a pair of hits and three runs scored, while his brother Finn Roder picked up the win on the mound. 

AB R H     BI

Finn Roder 3 1 2 0

Bergen Roder 2 3 2 0

Kolston Lofgren 3 2 1 0

Grady Roberts 3 0 0 1

Evan Doll 3 0 1 2

Eli Vaughan 3 0 1 2

Brock Ruther 3 0 1 0

Henry Oakes 2 0 0 0

Sean Dresser 1 0 0 0

Evertt Ruther 2 0 0 0

Slade Doll 1 0 0 0

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Finn Roder 6-2-2-2-7-9, Kolston Lofgren 1-0-0-0-0-1

Tuesday

  Trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, things were looking grim for the Eagles’ chances to win their second section title in three years and make a return to the state tournament. That’s when NY Mills’ offense came alive as Bergen Roder led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a walk, before Kolston Lofgren connected with a single to right field that brought Roder across the plate after an error. Grady Roberts followed with an RBI single to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Sebeka Trojans, but gave the Eagles a bit of life.

After the top seeded Trojans scored on a fielder’s choice in the top half of the seventh inning to make the score 4-2, NY Mills was down to its final three outs, before the Eagles loaded the bases on a Henry Oakes walk, Sean Dresser single and Finn Roder walk. That’s when Bergen Roder connected with a two-run single to tie the game and left two runners on base with no outs in the inning. The Eagles weren’t able to get another run across the plate, but they did just enough to tie the game at 4-4 and send it into extra innings.

After a scoreless eighth inning and top of the ninth inning for the Trojans, Bergen Roder was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, before Kolston Lofgren hit into a fielder’s choice and reached base to leave runners on first and second base with nobody out. 

Grady Roberts hit a pop fly that allowed both runners to advance to second and third base with just one out, before Evan Doll connected with an RBI single to center field to hand the Eagles a 5-4 win in walk-off fashion and send them back to state for the first time in 2024. 

The Eagles were led offensively by Lofgren, Roberts, Doll and Dresser who each had two hits in the win.

Lofgren went all nine innings and gave up 10 hits, four runs of which three were earned, three walks and struck out two batters. 

AB R H     BI

Finn Roder 4 0 1 0

Bergen Roder 3 2 1 1

Kolston Lofgren 5 1 2 0

Grady Roberts 4 0 2 1

Evan Doll 4 0 2 1

Eli Vaughan 4 0 0 0

Brock Ruther 4 0 1 0

Finn Wallgren 0 0 0 0

Henry Oakes 3 1 0 0

Sean Dresser 4 1 2 0

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Kolston Lofgren 9-10-4-3-3-2