Amateur Baseball: Aces eliminated from post-season play

Red Wing’s season came to an end Friday with a 13-6 loss to Victoria in the Minnesota Baseball Association state Class B tournament at Faber Field in St. Cloud.

The Aces produced nine hits in the game but couldn’t contend with the Vics’ potent offense. Victoria finished with 16 hits, including four doubles.

“Unfortunately, they can hit the ball and they capitalized when they had guys on base,” Red Wing player/co-manager Andy Gibart said. “But we gave them the game, not that they wouldn’t have beat us, but we threw the ball around. … Realistically, it should have been a 6-5 game.”

The Aces finished with three errors in the game and after pulling within three runs at 9-6 in the fourth inning, several miscues led to a four-run seventh inning for the Vics that put the game out of reach.

Zach Laffey continued his hot stretch in the playoffs to lead Red Wing, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

“Plain and simple, he’s carried us in the playoffs,” Gibart said. “He’s been the star of our show in the playoffs. He’s continually come up with those clutch extra-base hits. He’s been our guy. He’s absolutely been the clutch player that we’ve needed him to be.”

Josh Thygesen went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, Chris Guetzlaff was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Kyle Blahnik finished 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Player/co-manager Jimmy Bohmbach tallied the Aces ninth hit.

Gibart threw the first three innings, allowing five runs to get the loss.

All but one player had a hit for Victoria, led by Greg Winegarden, who went 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Chris Volkmann was 2-for-5 with three RBI, Sam Rothstein went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI and Erik Winegarden finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, two walks and three runs scored.

Kyle Voltin started the game for the Vics, throwing three innings and allowing three runs on three hits and a walk. Connor Stremke came on in relief, going six innings and giving up three runs on six hits while striking out six to pick up the victory.

Red Wing finishes the season with a record of 26-21.

“It makes us proud that we’re a Red Wing team and we take great pride that it’s a Red Wing team playing in the state tournament,” Gibart said. “Honestly, I think in the moment, and you can take it for what it’s worth, it’s been my favorite year playing for the Aces. The way we struggled early in the year and we stuck together as a team. … We’re one of the top six teams in the state finishing the way we did.”

Tags: amateur baseball, red wing, sports, proam