Sports
Photos: Eastview Baseball Drops 1st Game Of Section Semifinals, 5-3
Eastview's loss to St. Thomas Academy dropped the team to the one-loss bracket; they'll play Eagan in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Eastview baseball team enters the weekend teetering on the brink of postseason elimination after losing 5-3 to St. Thomas Academy in the first game of the Section 3AAA Final Four playoffs on Friday at Alimagnet Park.
St. Thomas led 3-0 into the fifth inning before the Lightning knotted the game by scoring three runs without garnering a single hit, as Scott Nelson, Taylor Branstad and Alec DesLaurier-Knop all crossed home plate on a combination of two walks, two Cadets errors and a fielder's choice.
The deadlock didn't last for long, however, as St. Thomas's Ryan McManus hit a leadoff homer in the top of the sixth inning to put the Cadets ahead for good.
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St. Thomas added one more run in the top of the seventh inning before Eastview went down without a tally in the home half of the final frame.
Lightning starting pitcher Adam Moorse was stuck with the defeat after being charged for all five runs in 6 1/3 innings before reliever Thomas Jerle hurled the final two outs.
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With the setback, Eastview dropped to the one-loss bracket and will play Eagan in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The winner of that game advances to the one-loss bracket final against either St. Thomas or Burnsville at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Whichever teams are defeated in the 10 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. contest will have their season come to an end.
