BY ROCKY HULNE

sports@austindailyherald.com

The Southland baseball team has won its fair share of blowouts this season.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when they came out swinging in an 18-4 five-inning win over Randolph in the West Sub Section 1A title game at Riverland Monday.

After third-seeded Randolph (13-6 overall) tied things up at 3 in the third inning, Southland senior Brian Voigt smashed a two-run homer into left field to start the bottom of the third and the Rebels (21-2 overall) added four more runs in the frame.

“That (home run) was huge,” Southland senior Winston Smith said. “It’s exciting every time Brian hits one out and he jump started everybody.”

After building up a big lead in the third, the top-seeded Rebels didn’t slow down when they added nine more in the fourth. Southland sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning, which saw Josh Bamrick, Chris May, and Derek Emanuel all had two-run singles in the inning.

“There were a couple of hiccups there (early),” Southland head coach Scott Retterath said. “But I was pretty confident that we were gonna come back and hit the ball. I just didn’t think it would be that extreme. That baseball, it’s a funny game.”

Voigt had an RBI-triple and sacrifice fly in the inning for Southland.

“I got up on the count and it was 2-1. I was sitting on a fastball and it just came there and I jumped on it,” Voigt said of his hit.

Although it went just five innings, every Rebel had a hit in the game. Smith, who had a two-run triple in the first inning, said the key was to stay eager to hit.

“We were just aggressive,” he said. “My triple was on the first pitch and (hitting on the first pitch) is our forte.”

The Rebels, who will now play in the Section 1A tournament at Carson Field in Rochester Saturday, have won 18 straight and have won by at least 10 runs 15 times this season.

“It’s nice to get these wins, Voigt said. “But now we gotta get everybody back and get ready for some close wins.”

Retterath said his team is playing its best at the right time of the season.

“If we can keep playing good defensively that’ll be good,” he said. “We can’t give up runs and errors kill, but as long as our pitchers keep throwing strikes and we keep hitting the ball (we’ll be fine).”

1 2 3 4 5 R H E

Randolph 0 0 3 1 0 4 6 4

Southland 3 0 6 9 X 18 12 2

Southland pitching: Kody Retterath (W), 5 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 K, 1 HBP

Southland hitting: Matt Schroeder, 2-of-4, 2 R; Jake Chapek, 1-of-2, BB; Brian Voigt, 2-of-3, HR, triple, 4 RBIs, BB; Derek Emanuel, 1-of-2, 3 RBIs, BB; Kody Retterath, 1-of-3, BB; Winston Smith, 2-of-3, triple, 2 RBIs; Josh Bamrick, 1-of-3, 2 RBIs; Mitch Nagele, 1-of-2, BB; Chris May, 1-of-3, 2 RBIs

Randolph pitching: Derick Otte (L), 3 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 9 R, 7 ER, 1 K; Levi Kuehn, 1 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 9 R, 5 ER

Randoph hitting: Derick Otte, 1-of-3; Ethan Kuehn, 2-of-2, double, RBI; Jake Scharpen, 0-of-3; Dennis Mulvihill, 1-of-3, RBI; Scott Otte, 0-of-2; Riley Trom, 0-of-2; Chaz Speight, 1-of-2; Ryan Wheeler, 1-of-1; Josh Quast, 0-of-2