The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
The Stewartville-Racine Sharks are capping an outstanding amateur baseball season with a trip to the state Class C tournament starting this weekend.
The Sharks took first place? in the Twin Rivers League with a 15-3 record, then won the Twin Rivers League playoffs and the Region 5C tournament. The team is 24-9 and has a nine-game winning streak heading into Saturday's first-round game with Maple Lake (5 p.m. at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud).
"We made it to the state tournament in 2008 and 2009 and lost in the first round both times," manager Andy Johnson said. "We're motivated to win some games this time."
The Sharks finished 2011 with a 14-12 record after getting eliminated in the second round of the region, 1-0 in 12 innings by Owatonna.
Three college players joined the team this year: Josh Benson (Augustana), John Meyer (Minnesota-Duluth), and Matt Stubbs (RCTC). All of them are entering their sophomore year of college.
"Adding those three bats really solidified our lineup," Johnson said.
Benson is hitting .347 with 19 RBIs, Meyer .316 with 11 RBIs and Stubbs .250 with 19 RBIs.
Joe Magee has a .402 average, 7 homers and 29 RBI, leading the team in all three categories. Ryan Manske, a .204 hitter last season, is hitting .391 with 2 homers. Sean Hohmeister is up from .258 to .337.
Jade Boettcher is batting .333 and is one of the two main pitchers (5-3, 2.18 ERA, 66 innings, 63 strikeouts, 29 walks). Tom Bendzick has posted 64 2/3 innings (7-2, 3.20 ERA, 67 strikeouts, 13 walks).
Meyer has a save and 1.12 ERA in eight innings in relief roles.
"We lost two pitchers to injuries and had to patch things together through the regular season and league playoffs," Johnson said.
As per amateur baseball custom, teams can "draft" pitchers from teams that did not advance. The Sharks got eight innings of scoreless relief in the region meet from Hayfield pitcher Shawn Palmer after drafting him following the league playoffs. They have drafted Matt Franke of Kasson and Brandon Wolf of Owatonna from the region for state.
"Palmer has been a great addition and now we added Franke and Wolf," Johnson said. "It's like having new toys."
Although the Sharks had a strong regular season, they didn't breeze in Region 5C.
"We had two marathon games to open the region playoffs," Johnson notes. The Sharks beat Winona 5-4 in 13 innings and Kasson 8-7 in 12 innings. They then drubbed Mankato 12-2 and Winona 11-2.
"Those games showed how strong our region was," Johnson said. "We had to beat a lot of good teams to get here."
Maple Lake finished in first place in the North Star League. It came in third in its region and thus advanced to the 48-team state field into a first-round game last weekend, which it won 6-1 over New Ulm. As a region champion, Stewartville-Racine received a bye into the second round. Winona also advanced to state but lost Saturday, 7-3 to New Munich.
If the Sharks beat Maple Lake, they advance to a third-round game Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. against either Detroit Lakes or Blue Earth.
The single-elimination event holds its quarterfinals and semifinals on Sept. 2, with the championship game slated for Sept. 3 at noon. Defending champion Isanti did not qualify, but 2011 runner-up Waconia did.
Source: http://postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1505944
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