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Sports

Rosemount defeats Lakeville South in First Round of Section Play

The Irish take advantage of five Cougar errors to advance in the section playoffs.

The Rosemount baseball team defeated Lakeville South 6-3 in the first round of section play on Friday.

Both teams battled the weather, attempting to toss the ball against the wind and rain and dodge puddles in the base paths.

“[Those] were tough conditions,” Rosemount Head Coach Chris Swansson said. “We were trying not to focus on the weather but focus on what we can control.”

But it wasn’t the weather that seemed to be the biggest factor in the loss for the Cougars. The team committed five errors, many of which allowed the Irish to round the bases and put up runs. Unfortunately, errors have been a common occurrence for the South baseball squad this season.

“Errors were an Achilles heel this season,” Lakeville South Head Coach Al Iversen said. “We thought we had gotten through that already.”

The game started with Irish senior Lucas Haase sticking a base hit into left center field off of South junior pitcher Will Lundquist. The Irish then left two runners on base when the top of the first ended. The Cougars then tried their luck against Irish senior pitcher Andrew Nelson but came up unsuccessful.

The scoring started at the top of the second inning as two batters made it on base for the Irish after a wild throw to first base by the Cougars. A fielder’s choice hit by junior catcher Andrew Schwartz then drove in the first run of the game, giving Rosemount the lead 1-0.

But the Cougars had an answer. To start off their side of the inning the Cougars got two hits, and then junior Jacob Miller hit in a run to tie the game, 1-1. Then, with a runner on base, senior Donny Mattia hit a sacrifice fly to drive in another run for the Cougars. South took the lead after two innings of play, 2-1.

The third inning started with another error by South, which put an Irish batter on base. A couple batters later, Rosemount got two runners on base—on first and third. Then, as the Cougars attempted to throw out a runner at second, the Irish snuck a runner to the plate to score another run to tie the game at two.

But the Irish weren’t done there. Haase hit a double to score another run and take the lead, 3-2. The Cougars were unable to get anyone on base in the bottom of the inning.

Rosemount then started to lengthen their lead in the fifth inning. After leading off with a single, Nelson smacked a two-run homerun to make it a three run lead for the Irish, 5-2. South didn’t have an answer, going hitless in the bottom of the inning.

The Irish took advantage of their next chance to swing a bat. The inning started with an infield hit, and then senior Tony Postrollo hit a triple after the Cougars committed another error, driving in another run to make the score 6-2 in favor of the Irish. South responded by putting a runner on base before a hit drove him in to cut the lead to three runs, 6-3.

The final inning saw the Irish leave two runners on base before giving the Cougars one more chance to get back into the game. The Cougars couldn’t get anything going, however, and the Irish came out victorious.

The Irish will advance to the second round of the section playoffs, going to Burnsville on Monday to take on the Blaze.

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