The Austin Blue Sox just two survived two elimination games to get to keep their season alive over the weekend. Now they’ll be playing another elimination game as they get set to play in the 16-team single elimination Class B state tournament.

Austin will open play Sunday at 5 p.m. against Cold Spring in Jordan, Minn.

The Blue Sox (13-16 overall) are coming in on a high after they knocked off the top-seeded Mankato Mets to get to state.

“It’s always a goal of ours to make it to the state tournament,” Blue Sox manager Josh Kunze said. “I always felt if we had any kind of identity, it’s that we’re always playing our best ball at the end of the year. I think we’re accomplishing that again this year.”

Austin won back-to-back games behind complete game efforts from Brian Voigt and Cody Schact, and Brady Banse will back in the fold at the state tournament.

Kunze is expecting to have his full squad ready for state and the Blue Sox are looking forward to the challenge.

“We went on the road and came up with two big wins on back to back nights [in the Section 4 tournament],” Kunze said. “We kept talking about what a great opportunity it is to play in state and I told some of the guys this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s a great chance to for baseball to be played at a high level on some great fields.”

Austin has been led by the hitting of Lukas Anderson, who is hitting .327 this summer, Voigt, who is hitting .366, and Cody Meyer, who is hitting .380.

In their 10 years of existence, this is the fourth time the Blue Sox will play in the state tournament.