Baseball: Eagan, Eastview catch fire in playoffs

District 196 rivals meet in Section 3 final

Two baseball teams that struggled during the regular season capitalized on the second chance that the playoffs offer to reach the Class 4A, Section 3 finals.

Eagan or Eastview play at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Alimagnet Park in Burnsville to represent the section in next week’s state tournament. Eagan was undefeated in the double-elimination tournament and needed one victory to advance, while Eastview needed to beat Eagan twice. If Eastview wins the 4 p.m. game, the final game would be Wednesday night.

Eagan took a 10-13 record into the section final after beginning the season with five consecutive losses. The Wildcats also lost their final five regular-season games. Eastview (12-13) went through a stretch of five losses in six games, which included a one-run loss to Eagan in the first round of the Section 3 playoffs.

The Lightning were fifth and the Wildcats seventh in the 10-team South Suburban Conference before finding their form in the postseason. Both teams had roles in shooing the top two seeds, Two Rivers and Hastings, out of the Section 3 playoffs. Eagan defeated Two Rivers 3-1 and Hastings 5-4, giving both teams their first loss in the tourney. Eastview finished them off, ousting Two Rivers 4-0 and Hastings 10-5.

After losing to Eagan 4-3 in the opening round of the playoffs, Eastview won four consecutive elimination games to reach the final. The Lightning will need to extend that streak to six to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2018.

Eagan, which made its only state appearance in 2009, survived a roller-coaster ride against Hastings to win the winners’ bracket final 5-4 on Monday at Alimagnet Park. The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. By the fifth, their pitchers were struggling with control – three Eagan players went to the mound in that inning alone – and Hastings game back to tie the game. Eagan’s Andrew Liekis got a called third strike with the bases loaded to get his team out of a potentially disastrous inning.

In the fifth, Wildcats sophomore Brandon Lunneborg homered to put Eagan back in front. Ryan Eckerle singled, which was followed by a Hastings pitching change. Anthony Hyvare, the first Eagan batter to face the new pitcher, doubled to drive in Eckerle. That run proved crucial because. Hastings cut the lead to 5-4 with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth. Hastings got the potential tying run to second base in the bottom of the seventh with two outs before the Wildcats’ Jackson Tsahalis got a called third strike on an off-speed pitch to end the game.

Lunneborg was 3-for-3 with a homer and two doubles. Eckerle was 2-for-3 and scored two runs. Liekis was the winning pitcher with Tsahalis earning a save.

Eastview won three elimination games in two days to reach the section final. The Lightning defeated Rosemount 8-2 on Monday after trailing 2-1 going into the bottom of the fifth. Nick Brandt drove in the tying run with a single in the fifth and hit a three-run homer in the sixth. He was 3-for-4 with four runs batted in. Cooper DeSutter also homered and was 2-for-4. Luc Maccarone and Ben Schmitz had two hits each.

Tyler Japel had two hits and two RBIs for defending section champion Rosemount, which finished 8-15.

Later Monday, DeSutter pitched a seven-hit shutout as the Lightning defeated Two Rivers 4-0. The game was scoreless until Eastview scored all four of its runs in the top of the sixth. DeSutter singled in the first run, Brandt drove in two more with another single and Charlie Riedl brought in the fourth run with a sacrifice fly.

DeSutter homered and drove in two runs as Eastview eliminated Hastings on Tuesday. Maccarone also had two RBIs and Riedl was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

Class 4A, Section 1

Farmington and New Prague meet for the Class 4A, Section 1 championship at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Memorial Park in Dundas. The section final was to be Tuesday but was postponed in advance of possible severe weather, which arrived shortly after the game was scheduled to start.

The South Suburban Conference champion Tigers (22-3) need two victories to reach the state tournament for the third time in four years. New Prague (17-6) won the 2023 Class 3A championship before moving up to Class 4A this season.

The Tigers had to go to the elimination bracket after a 10-2 loss to Rochester Mayo in a second-round Section 1 game May 28. They eliminated Lakeville North 5-3 on May 30, then stayed alive with back-to-back shutouts of Rochester Century (4-0) and Rochester Mayo (2-0) on June 1 in Dundas.

Joe Baldus and Dillon Carlson combined on a four-hitter in the Century game, with Baldus working the first five innings and earning the win. Brandon Lund drove in two runs, and Lund, Marshall Gordon and Connor Hennen had two hits each.

Lund pitched a four-hitter as Farmington eliminated Rochester Mayo. Hennen’s fourth-inning single drove in the only two runs of the game.