Aug. 23—JORDAN — Owen Boerema played spoiler to Granite Falls' long-awaited state return.
Boerema took the mound for the Litchfield Blues in the opening round of the Class C state amateur baseball tournament. The left-hander dominated with 16 strikeouts in a 4-1 victory Saturday at the Mini Met.
With the win, the Blues face the Windom Pirates at 7:30 p.m. Friday back at Jordan.
At state for the first time since 2007, Granite Falls got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning. Brody Dack scored the opening run on an infield error during a Colton Vien at-bat.
That lead was short-lived as the Blues' Avery Liestman came through with a two-out RBI single that scored Winky Estrada in the bottom of the fourth.
There was no beating Boerema on Saturday. The former Northwestern-St. Paul and Kansas State pitcher limited the Kilowatts to two hits and two walks.
Litchfield pulled away with a three-run seventh. Jack Ramthun drew a bases-loaded walk to score Liestman. Tony Baumann came through with a two-out single. Caden Besemer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score another run.
Liestman was the Blues' top hitter, going 2-for-4. Boerema was 1-for-2. Baumann and Estrada both had a hit in the win.
Jordan Odegard and Drew Almich both had a hit for the Kilowatts. Bennett Knapper took the loss after giving up four runs, all unearned, on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts.
The Starbuck Stars saw a four-run lead evaporate in the eighth inning, only to go back up by four with a big ninth inning to put away the Courtland Cubs in an opening-round playoff game at New Prague Memorial Park.
Making its first state trip since 2020, Starbuck plays the Urbank Bombers at 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 at the Mini Met in Jordan.
Dylan Alexander brought home Matt Gruber with a ground-rule double for the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. Both Darion and Dylan Alexander scored on wild pitches. The final Stars run came when Jack Majerus was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Austin Ver Steeg.
Dylan Alexander went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI. Mitch Gruber and Noah Jensen each had two hits.
Alex Panitzke nabbed the win for Starbuck after tossing the final 1-1/3 innings. He struck out three.
Carter Lang and Andrew Peters each went 2-for-5 for the Cubs. Peters had two RBIs.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Starbuck: Ver Steeg 7.1-6-3-3-2-4, Brayden Skindelien (Regal draftee) 0.1-2-1-1-2-1, Alex Panitzke (W) 1.1-2-1-0-0-3 ... Courtland: Ansen Dulas 3-4-4-3-3-1, Mark Schommer (Searles draftee) 5-4-0-0-2-8, Joe Liebl (Milroy Yankees draftee) (L) 0.2-2-4-1-2-1, Giefer 0.1-0-0-0-0-1
Kimball pitcher Clay Faber kept Bird Island off the board to give the Express the shutout win in the opening round of the Class B state tournament at the Mini Met in Jordan.
With the win, Kimball faces off with the Sobieski Skis at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30 at New Prague Memorial Park.
Faber, who just finished his sophomore season at St. Cloud Technical and Community College, held the Bullfrogs to four hits and three walks, striking out three.
The Express broke through in the top of the fourth inning when Joe Hess hit a two-out, two-run home run off Bird Island starter Casey Lewandoski. Hess finished 2-for-4. Kimball's Tommy Friesen added a run in the fifth with an RBI single.
Jordan Sagedahl, Shawn Dollerschell, Dylan Gass and Elliott Serbus each had a hit for the Bullfrogs.
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