Another good showing at state

The Quad Cities Baseball Association (QCBA) had yet another team make a strong showing at the MBT State Tournament on July 26-28. This time it was the 11U team that soared.

 

The 11U squad started pool play against Miesville and won 16-6. Miesville plated a run in the first, but QCBA answered with six runs in their half of the inning and the route was on. Trevor Gilliland, Parker Simon, Tate Michaels, and Collin Misgen each had two hits; Simon and Adler Bethke pitched for the team.

 

Next up was a matchup with Rogers Otsego. Once again, the opponents scored first, racing across home twice in the first inning. But QCBA came back with three runs of their own on RBI singles from Simon and Bo Holland. QCBA kept marching across the plate in future innings, including five runs in the fourth. Holland led the way with three hits, including a triple. Misgen and Kaeson Gehrke each gave up two runs, but performed solidly from the mound.

 

The final game of pool play featured a battle with Minnetonka, which had QCBA leap to a five-run lead in the first, but then have to hang on to win 11-9. With QCBA up 7-4 in the fifth inning, Minnetonka came back to take the lead, at least briefly, before QCBA rallied in the bottom of the inning on a 2-RBI triple from Reed Budach and a single from Bethke. 

 

Undefeated in pool play, QCBA advanced to the knockout round and saw Wayzata in that game, winning a thriller 14-9. Misgen hammered a home run in the first to help QCBA to a 3-0 lead, but Wayzata scored seven runs in the bottom of the first. However, QCBA wasn't done and scored six runs of their own in the third inning, highlighted by a Holland grand slam. Gilliland, Simon, and Holland each threw scoreless innings in pitching relief to aid the cause.

 

The Elite Eight saw a game with Redwood, won by QCBA 4-1. QCBA found ways to score, including on an error and a ground out. Budach toed the rubber to start, with relief shown by Gehrke and Gilliland

 

The Final Four was when the magic came to a halt. QCBA met St. Paul Highland and fell 11-4. Holland had a 2-run bomb for QCBA in the sixth, but it wasn't enough after five runs were scored by the opposing team in that inning. Simon also had two hits for QCBA.

 

QCBA played one more game and lost in the battle for third place to Duluth 15-5. QCBA led 4-0 right out of the gates, in part due to a 2-run double from Holland. But Duluth answered with seven runs of their own in the first and just kept rolling from there. 

 

While the 11U QCBA team didn't attain their ultimate goal, finishing fourth at state was a big accomplishment, facing strong competition from all around Minnesota. This group of young men worked hard, played hard, and knew they could be proud of a strong summer season of baseball.