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Front Row: Nate Baer, Tanner Frank, 2nd row: Dylan Pfeilsticker, Brennen Rothgarn, Blake Hoeft, Tyler Pribyl, Drew Bailey, Austin Defore,3rd row: Marc Kjos, Riley Fritz,Parker Schurhammer, Charile White, Back Row: Coaches Ronnie Schurhammer, Rick Baer, Brent Rothgarn, & Devin Bremer, Zachery Bremer, Thomas Huettl
Prior Lake, Minn. – Lake City’s 11 & under baseball team returned to town on Sunday, July 10 as 11A State Champions. The team had earned a spot in the 28-team Metro Baseball Tournament in Prior Lake by placing first in a tournament in Farmington, Minn. earlier in the season.
Lake City was ranked 6th going into pool play of the tournament on Friday, July 8. The Tigers defeated Chanhassen Storm by a score of 12-2 and East Ridge Raptors 10-8 before dropping a game to Mankato Royals Black, 4-3 on Saturday. Their pool play record seeded them 9th going into the 14-team tournament. The Tigers handily defeated Orono Red, 12-0, which put them against the number one seed of the tournament, Owatonna Black.
After a quiet first inning for both teams, Lake City broke the game open with a 7-run second inning. The Tigers added one more run in the third inning before Owattona found their bats rallying 3 runs in the fourth inning. Lake City added 5 more runs in the fourth inning winning by the 10-run rule, which ended the game after five and a half innings of play.
The Tigers then faced Lakeville South Gold and defeated them 13-3 setting up the 11A State Championship Game against the number two seed, Wayzata Gold. Lake City started the bats early scoring 3 runs in the first inning, 1 in the third and an impressive 10 runs in the fourth inning before letting Wayzata Gold into the game in the bottom of the fourth inning scoring 1 run. Wayzata rallied with 5 runs in the fifth inning, but Lake City leaned on the defensive plays and pitching to win 16-7.
"We had a distinct advantage over all other teams in this tournament with our endless talent on the mound," noted Coach Rick Baer. The Tigers had solid pitching all weekend from Drew Bailey, Zach Bremer, Riley Fritz, Mark Kjos, and Tyler Pribyl.
“I couldn’t believe how well the kids played this weekend,” said Baer. “Not only fielding the ball, but backing each other up on plays and everyone hit the ball well.” Every batter in the 15-member line-up hit the ball at opportune times to keep the momentum going for the Tigers, including clutch hits from Devin Bremer, Tanner Frank, Blake Hoeft, and Dylan Pfeilsticker.
Tournament defensive highlights included a rare double play at the 11U level started by shortstop Zach Bremer, turned by second baseman Nate Baer to Riley Fritz at first; a double play by second baseman Nate Baer tagging a runner going to second and throwing the runner out at first for the last two outs of the inning; third baseman Brennan Rothgarn leaped high to snag a hard-hit ground ball and made an accurate throw stretched out first baseman Riley Fritz; catcher Austin DeFore threw out two runners attempting to steal second base during the championship game. Outfielders Drew Bailey, Thomas Huettl, Parker Schurhammer and Charlie White made challenging catches and accurate throws.
“This is a special group of boys,” said Coach Brent Rothgarn. “They have a mix of talent and passion that you don’t see very often. They just know how to win.”
The Lake City 11 & Under team are coached by Baer, Rothgarn and Ronnie Schurhammer. The Tigers had one of the largest following of enthusiastic parents and fans at the tournament. See more photos of the weekend at http://www.lakecitybaseball.com. Area businesses, Fiesta Foods and Super America of Red Wing, contributed water and supplies for the tournament.
A year ago this same group of boys, then 9 and 10 years old, had only a single win in their summer baseball season record. They were a talented group and were put into a 12 and under league, however the age difference proved to be too much. Coaches Rick Baer and Brent Rothgarn saw the potential and urged the Lake City Youth Summer Baseball Association to put this same group of boys into an 11 & Under Metro League. So far in 2011, with most of the same boys returning, they boast an overall record of 26-3-1. The 11A Lake City Tigers have clinched first place in their division of the Metro Baseball League and division playoffs begin the week of July 18.
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