NYM edges Perham 5-3 in semi-finals

Caden Roberts connects for a liner during Sunday’s game against Deer Creek.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The New York Mills Millers have made a bit of a habit of advancing to the state baseball tournament of late. The Millers advanced to state for the third consecutive year with a 6-0 win over the Deer Creek Shockers on Sunday afternoon in Perham.

Caden Roberts picked up a complete game shutout and was nearly unhittable during the opening few innings of action on Sunday afternoon. 

Derin Gaudette slides in safely to second base during Sunday’s Region 14C championship game in Perham.

Already leading 1-0, Logan Small put an exclamation point on the Millers win with a grand slam to put the team up 5-0 midway through the game. He finished with three hits to lead the charge offensively for NY Mills. 

Sunday’s win comes on the heels of a 5-3 win over Perham in the Region 14C semi-finals that avenged two previous losses to the Pirates earlier this season and help the Millers advance to state once again. 

While the Millers have already advanced to state their region tournament is not over as they will return to Perham next weekend to determine if they advance to state as the region champion, or as runner up. 

Brayden Ehnert throws out a runner from second base during Sunday’s Region 14C game against Deer Creek.

The Millers are currently 17-4 on the season and will play the winner of Deer Creek vs. Midway/Perham on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Perham. If the Millers lose Saturday’s game they will return to Perham on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the Region 14C championship game.

The Class C state baseball tournament is set for Aug 16-18, Aug. 23-25 and Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 in Jordan, Belle Plaine and Green Isle. The champion out of Region 14C will receive a bye in the opening round of state, while the runner up will need to play a pig tail game during the opening weekend. 

Saturday

NY Mills avenged a pair of losses to Perham earlier this season in a big way on Saturday night as the Millers defeated Perham 5-3 to advance to the Region 14C championship game. 

Perham took control of the game early with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning with two outs on the scoreboard. However, the Millers wasted little time in getting one of those runs back when Derin Gaudette hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Pirates. From there, both pitchers took over and were dominant by keeping the score at 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning when Adam Patron led off the inning by getting hit and Jonah Johnson hit a single with one out to put runners on first and second base. Gaudette followed with an RBI single to bring Jonah Ruther, who was running for Patron, across the plate to tie the game at 2-2. 

The Millers took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh inning when Dashaun Robinson led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. He advanced to second base with a Patron sacrifice bunt, before Johnson connected with a clutch two strike, two out double to center field to bring the go-ahead run across the plate. He wouldn’t stay at second base very long as Gaudette connected with an RBI single to make the score 4-2 in favor of the Millers with just two innings to go in the game. 

Perham cut the lead down to 4-3 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning, before Logan Small scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the score 5-3 in favor of the Millers. 

Small kept the Pirates off the scoreboard in the top of the ninth inning to come away with the 5-3 win and advance the Millers to Sunday’s championship game. 

Gaudette had a huge game at the plate as he went 3-3 with three RBIs and a solo home run, while Johnson and Small each collected two hits apiece. The Millers had seven total hits as a team. 

Small picked up the win in relief of Gaudette who started the game on the mound. Small went four innings and gave up four hits and one earned runs, while striking out five hitters. Gaudette pitched five innings and gave up four hits and two earned runs, while striking out five hitters. 

AB R H     BI

Derin Gaudette 3 1 3 3

Braxtyn Ehnert 3 0 0 0

C. Roberts 1 0 0 0

Logan Small 4 1 2 0

Brandon Kupfer 4 0 0 0

Zach Hocking 3 0 0 0

Teagan Lausten 0 0 0 0

Dashaun Robinson 2 1 0 0

Adam Patron 0 0 0 0

Jonah Ruther 0 1 0 0

Patron 0 1 0 0

C. Teich 2 0 0 0

Jonah Johnson 3 1 2 1

HITTING- 2B-  J. Johnson, HR- Gaudette

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)-  D. Gaudette 5.0-4-2-2-1-5, L. Small 4.0-4-1-1-1-5