By Eric Kraushar
Contributing Writer
Coming up one win short of a Class C state baseball tournament championship in 2023 has and continues to fuel Bird Island in its quest for a first state title.
With a strong pitching staff and all nine starters returning, the Bullfrogs continue to march toward their quest, defeating Kimball 8-1 on Friday in Belle Plaine.
Bird Island is in the elite eight for the fourth time in five years.
“We got that close, and we got a taste of it,” Bird Island’s Jimmy Woelfel said. “We have a lot of guys that have been grinding for it for a number of years. We have the pitching to do it, the offense to do it, the defense to do it, we know we can win the championship; it’s about making it happen this year.”
Woelfel, the Bullfrog catcher, remembers the 2023 state run well. Something Bird Island is looking to replicate, now three wins away from the title.
While Bird Island has scored 18 runs in two state wins, blanking Le Sueur 10-0 in seven innings on Aug. 25, the Bullfrogs rely on their strong pitching to lead them. In the first state game, it was Aiden Elfering who threw a seven-inning shutout. On Friday, it was Jordan Sagedahl who struck out 11 batters, allowing two hits over six shutout innings.
“Aiden was in the Northwoods League the first half of the year, so he’s really ramping back up again,” Woelfel said. “Jordan is one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen – he can do it all – so to have those guys go back-to-back in the high 80s, low 90s, plus Dylan (Gass) and Casey (Lewandowski), who are unbelievable starters as well, we’ve got the staff to do it when you add in our three draftees. We’re going to be tough to beat in my opinion.”
Scoreless into the fifth inning, Bird Island grabbed the lead for good, two runs crossing home plate on a Trent Athman RBI-single and a Sagedahl sacrifice fly.
The Bullfrogs opened up the game with five runs in the sixth inning capped by a Sagedahl two-run double to the warning track.
Sagedahl allowed just one Kimball runner to reach second base in the win.
The Express, coming off wins over Luverne (10-0) and Foley (4-3), broke the shutout bid with a Matt Friesen RBI-single in the eighth inning.
Matt Dingmann baffled Bird Island batters for four innings, striking out eight, before running into trouble with a ground-rule double off the bat of Shawn Dollerschell followed by back-to-back walks. Dingmann started for the Express after Ben Johnson threw the first two games for Kimball.
Bird Island will face the winner of Bemidji and Waconia at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1 in Green Isle.
“We have beautiful weather this year,” Woelfel said. “Last year, it was hotter than heck the last weekend, so to keep rolling day after day was tough, but personally, I like that, keeping the body warm. We’ll get tomorrow off, get a chance to recover a bit and be ready for Sunday.”
