By: Sean Solheim
Murray County News Sports
The Rebels baseball team continued their playoff run the very next day where regardless of win or loss, they played two games. With a loss to start the day and a win later, they advanced to Saturday to compete against a familiar opponent. Despite their efforts, the Rebels season came to an end on that Saturday.
After winning the first couple of games to open the Section 3A playoffs, the Rebels matched up with a tough opponent in Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The number one overall seed from the North section gave the Rebels a tough test to advance even closer to the state tournament, but KMS came ready to play against MCC.
KMS kept control for the length of the game no only offensively, but defensively as well. With that control, they went on to shorten the game to a five inning game due to the ten run rule and defeat the Rebels 10-0, giving the Rebels their first loss of the playoffs.
With the loss, the Rebels had one more chance to bounce back as the tournament is set up in double elimination format. To move on, the Rebels had to face up with Renville County West. In that game, it was the Rebels that kept control for the majority of the game. In the end, the Rebels were able to advance after a comfortable 7-2 victory.
With the win, the Rebels had a couple days off before matching up with a very familiar opponent, which was the Adrian Dragons. For both teams, it was a win or go home situation, and one inning was what decided the outcome of the game for both teams.
Both the Dragons and the Rebels were held scoreless through the first couple of innings where the third inning was the big inning that decided the game. The Rebels had a run scoring opportunity in the top of the third inning, but a lineout to second base stranded a runner at third base, preventing the first run of the game to score.
Later that same inning, the Dragons struck for a comfortable lead. A single, double, sacrifice bunt, and a two run home run for the Dragons allowed them to take a 4-0 lead. The Rebels did have another run scoring opportunity later in the game to try and come back, but two runners were stranded in scoring position to remain scoreless. In the end, the Rebels couldn’t get any offense going as the Dragons ended MCC’s season with a 4-0 victory.
In the final game of the season, the Rebels had four base hits. Justin Benda led the way by going 2-3 while Garrett Johnsons and Paul Mesner each had a hit as well. Mesner also pitched all six innings against the Dragons and gave up nine hits and four runs while striking out four batters as well.
Overall, the Rebels concluded the season with a 14-8 record including the games played in the playoffs. The Rebels have five Seniors that played their final games as a Rebel on Saturday and they included Garrett Johnson, Paul Mesner, Tate Meyer, Tyler Spence, and Noah Lupkes.
