Riverland baseball team earns first state championship in nearly 40 years

Published 10:12 am Monday, May 4, 2009

For the first time in nearly four decades, the Riverland Community College baseball team has won a state championship.

The Blue Devils (34-8) clinched their first championship since the early 1970s after three straight victories over the weekend at the Minnesota College Athletic Conference state tournament in St. Cloud.

The squad beat Ridgewater 13-3 Friday, got passed Dakota County Technical College 7-5 the same day and then topped Fergus Falls 6-2 Saturday.

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“The guys played well, the pitchers threw strikes, the defense made plays and this weekend we really swung the bats well,” said Riverland head coach Scott Koenigs.

In game one, Brandon Huhn struck out six in six innings of work for the Blue Devils, while the offense backed him up with 13 runs on 16 hits.

Zach Vlietstra went four for five at the plate with a pair of home runs, while Huhn and Andy Behnke combined to go six for seven with one home run each.

“We were really swinging the bats well, and that kind of set the tone for the weekend,” Koenigs said.

In game two, the Blue Devils rallied from down 4-0 in the first inning to score one run in the second, three in the fourth and three in the fifth.

Chris Lindemann connected on a key two-run home run in the fourth to tie the game, and Behnke, Shane Lang and Brian Voigt added back-to-back-to-back hits in the fifth to put the Blue Devils ahead.

On the mound, Brady Banse pitched four innings to pick up the win, while Vlietstra finished things up late in the contest, including striking out the number four and five hitters of DCTC in the seventh.

In the championship game, Riverland scored four runs in the second inning and added two in the fifth en route to the victory.

Ryan Palmer earned the win for the Blue Devils, going five and two thirds innings and striking out four.

At the plate, it was more of the same for Riverland as Lindemann hit another home run, this one a three-run shot, while Huhn, Behnke and Voigt each added doubles.

Next up for the Blue Devils, who are ranked No. 6 in the nation, is the regional tournament at Willmar Friday at 11 a.m. for the double-elimination tournament.

The winner goes on to the junior college world series in Tyler, Texas.

“If we play as well as we have been playing, we have a shot,” Koenigs said.