The Austin VFW baseball team advanced to the semifinals at the state tournament in St. Cloud Thursday when it beat Proctor 12-2 in six innings.

Austin Post 1216 will play the winner of Morris and Bemidji Friday at 4 p.m.

Austin (27-6 overall) conserved its pitching staff by throwing three different hurlers two innings each. Alan May got the start and allowed two earned runs in two innings, while Tyler Nelson and Tyler Krekling each pitched two scoreless frames.

“It was like a bullpen session for each guy so we feel pretty good about that for the rest of the tourney,” Austin head coach Joe Serratore said.

May hit a two-run homer in the third that put Austin up 7-2 and was 2-for-2. Steve Serratore was 2-for-3, Logan Spitzack was 2-for-3, and Nelson was 3-for-3.