Tigers are pressure-proof in section playoffs

Farmington reaches state baseball tourney for third time in four years

To Farmington, all that being down to the last strike means is the Tigers aren’t dead yet.

“Whenever we’ve been down, or losing and feeling a lot of pressure, I think that’s when we’ve notched up our game,” senior captain Tanner Renzy said. “We get a lot more gritty when the pressure’s on.”

The Tigers needed all the grit they could muster in the Class 4A, Section 1 baseball playoffs. After losing to Rochester Mayo in the second round of the double-elimination tournament, they needed to win five in a row – including two heart-stoppers against New Prague in the finals – to win the section and advance to the state tournament for the third time in four years.

New Prague, the 2023 state Class 3A champion before moving up to Class 4A this season, had the Tigers in serious trouble in a June 5 playoff game in Dundas. The game went to extra innings and the Trojans pushed across a run in the top of the ninth to take the lead. The first two Farmington batters were retired in the bottom of the inning and the third hitter, senior Kelin Rasmussen, faced a two-strike count. Rasmussen kept the season alive with a single, Renzy was hit by a pitch and catcher Marshall Gordon singled to score Rasmussen and tie the game.

In the next inning, Farmington loaded the bases on a walk and two errors. Joe Larson grounded to second base, but the Trojans couldn’t cut down the winning run at the plate.

That forced a second game June 6 for the section championship, which Farmington won 1-0 on a walk-off error in the bottom of the seventh.

South Suburban Conference champion Farmington (24-3), which has set a school record for victories, will play Forest Lake (13-11) in the state Class 4A quarterfinals at 10 a.m. Thursday at CHS Field. The winner gets Eastview or defending state champion East Ridge in the semifinals at noon Friday, also at CHS Field. All four state championship games are scheduled for Monday, June 17, at Target Field, with the Class 4A final at 7 p.m.

The Class 4A field includes undefeated and No. 1-ranked Wayzata. East Ridge has three pitchers committed to Division I college programs. The Tigers, who were ranked second in the state for much of the season, plan to go into the state tournament thinking they have as good a chance as anybody.

Many of their players watched the Farmington teams that won the 2021 state championship and finished second the following year. Coach Jon Graff said this year’s players can learn lessons from those two teams, and the biggest might be that they don’t have to do anything extraordinary. Just play the way they have all season.

“We’ve told them, ‘Guys, our good is good enough, so we just have to go our there and compete,’” Graff said. “In the section finals we made some huge plays on defense, a couple of diving catches in the outfield. We had a situation where New Prague loaded the bases with nobody out, and we got out of the inning without giving up a run. I think that was because we stayed fearless and committed on every pitch. If we keep doing that, and just do what we’re supposed to, things are going to turn out pretty good.”

The Tigers have 13 seniors on the roster. They have plenty of depth on the mound, which they demonstrated in the section tournament when they had shutouts in three of their last four games. Brandon Lund pitched a two-hitter in the section-clinching game. The day before, Joe Baldus pitched the first six innings against New Prague, allowing one run on four hits, while winning pitcher Carter Giesen struck out seven in the final four innings.

Earlier in the playoffs, Lund pitched a shutout against Rochester Mayo and Baldus and Dillon Carlson combined on a shutout against Rochester Century.

Farmington’s defense also has a role in the pitchers’ success. “Our pitchers have done great. They crash the zone and throw strikes,” Graff said. “They have multiple pitches they can throw for strikes on any count. And our defense – this is my 11th year as head coach and this is probably the best defense we’ve ever had.

“Usually we say if we score five runs we have a shot to win every game. Now, it’s three.”

The statistics bear that out. Farmington scored 15 runs in its last five section tournament games and won every one. Renzy said he isn’t worried about the offense.

“Looking at the last two New Prague games, we outhit them (18-7) and had a lot of line drives that were right at outfielders,” Renzy said. “Or hard ground balls right at people. So the bats were firing the last two games.”