The Dundas Dukes are headed back to the Minnesota Baseball Association Class B state tournament for the third consecutive season thanks to a 9-4 victory over the Northfield Knights in the Redemption Round of the Section 1B playoffs on Sunday, Aug. 12 at Memorial Park in Dundas.
After losing their opening round series against New Market, Dundas collected the two wins needed in the Redemption Round of the section tournament to punch their ticket to the state tournament.
The Dukes are slated to open tournament play on Sunday, Aug. 19 with an 11 a.m. game against the St. Louis Pirates in Green Isle. The winner of that game will then advance to the second round of the tournament against the winner of the Chaska Cubs/St. Anthony Hogs game that will be played on Aug. 24 in Jodan. The tournament is scheduled to continue through the title game on Sunday, Sept. 1 in Belle Plaine.
This will mark the third consecutive season that the Dukes have qualified for the state tournament, and this is the team’s 32nd state tournament appearance since 1954. Dundas has won five state titles since 1982, and the Dukes have finished as the state runner-up seven times since 1975.
Showdown for state
In the final game of the Redemption Round, Dundas took control early in the contest against Northfield, as Tate Jorunell scored the opening run in the first inning on an RBI double by Carson Jones, who later scored after Jack Alley put the ball into play later in the inning.
The Dukes then added three runs in the second inning, scored by Nate Costa, Jones and Journell, to make it 6-1. Dundas pushed its lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning as Alley singled to left that allowed Journell to score another run.
In the top of the sixth, Northfield closed the gap to 6-3 as Troy Deden scored on a wild pitch and Gunnar Benson later scored a run on an RBI single by Jake Mathison. Northfield added another run in the top of the seventh inning to make it 5-4 as Ryan Torbenson scored on another single by Mathison.
The Knights’ rally ended at that point as Dundas replied in the bottom of the seventh inning with three runs on four hits. Journell scored first on an RBI single by Jon Bishop, which was followed by an RBI single by Noah Drusch that scored Bishop. To ended the inning, Drusch managed to score on an error by Northfield that made the final 9-4.
In the game, Dundas outhit the Knights 13-11, as Journell and Drew Sathrum both had three hits to lead the Dukes. Journell also had four runs in the game, while Alley had two hits and two RBIs and Costa had two hits. Mathison led the Knights with four hits and two RBIs, while Torbenson added two hits and an RBI.
On the mound, Carter Giesen was the winning pitcher for Dundas with 5.1 innings of work that included seven strikeouts and three earned runs. Alley gained the save with 2.2 innings of relief work that included three strikeouts and just two hits allowed. Cole Stanchina was the pitcher of record for Northfield with 4.2 innings pitched and four earned runs allowed.
Redemption Round
The showdown between Northfield and Dundas for a trip to the state tournament was set up on Friday, Aug. 9, as the Knights gained a 15-7 win over St. Patrick in their first game of the Redemption Round and Dundas also hit a 15-5 winning margin in its Redemption Round game against visiting Hampton.
The losses knocked both Hampton and St. Patrick out of the Section 1B tournament.
The Dukes were moved to the Redemption Bracket of the 2024 Minnesota Baseball Association Section 1B tournament with a 7-0 loss to New Market at Memorial Park on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Northfield was knocked out of its first round series with a 7-4 loss at Miesville in its third and final game of the series against the Mudhens. Both Miesville and New Market will participate in the 2024 Class B tournament.
The first seven innings of the contest against New Market was a tight defensive battle as starting pitcher Carter Folman opened the game with four innings of shutout baseball. Folman allowed one run in the top of the fifth inning as New Market’s Andy Henkemeyer scored on an RBI double by Connor Weed.
The rally was short lived, as Folman replied with two more innings of shutout baseball in the sixth and seventh innings before being relieved at the top of the eighth. In the game, Folman allowed one earned run, five hits and had four strikeouts to his credit.
The Muskies’ Tony Vocca also turned in an admirable pitching performance as he started the game and pitched five shutout innings with just three hits allowed to gain the win.
In the eighth inning, New Market settled matters by charting six runs to finalize the game’s scoring at 7-0. The Muskies took advantage of five hits in the inning as Dundas pitcher Matt Neuger gave up five runs and John McCaustlin allowed one run in the final at bat for New Market.
The Muskies outhit the Dukes 8-3 in the contest, as Dundas’ Jon Bishop had two hits and Noah Drusch also had a single.
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