Austin Daily Herald

The Blooming Prairie baseball team stormed back from an early seven-run deficit Saturday, but Chatfield came up with three runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out a wild 10-9 victory in Section 1A play.

"We at least showed that they're going to have to play good baseball to beat us," said BP head coach Chris Staloch, whose team could meet the Gophers again if they beat Elgin-Millville.

The Blossoms found themselves in an unfamiliar position against Chatfield, trailing 7-0 after four innings.

As the Blossoms had in the first round against Elgin-Millville, they were able to get the bats going. Tom Farr homered as BP got two of the runs back in the fifth.

They struck for seven more in the sixth, highlighted by doubles from Lynn Cheang and Brayton Johnson.

With a 9-7 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, it looked like BP had the momentum squarely on their side. But the Gophers were able to put together a rally off of David Kramer, who had come on in relief of starter Kraig Olson. BP then brought in Steve Seykora to try and nail it down, but they couldn't get the last out, as Chatfield eked out the win.

Blooming Prairie drops down into the loser's bracket, where they will play Elgin-Millville for the second time in the tournament. They defeated the Watchmen 10-0 in five innings on Saturday. The winner advances to play Chatfield immediately following the first game. Play begins 5 p.m. at Hudson Field in Rochester.

L/P baseball's season comes to an end

The Lyle/Pacelli baseball team's postseason run came to an end Saturday, as Elgin Millville bounced them from Section 1A play by the score of 4-1.

L/P found themselves in a must-win situation after losing their first game 4-2 to Chatfield.

Lyle/Pacelli improved to 14-6 this season after going 3-15 a year ago. They also went 6-3 to earn a share of the Southeast Conference title. They will enter next season with most of their nucleus intact, though they will have to replace pitcher Nels Nelson and leftfielder Alex Halbach.