By Nick Gerhardt
nickgerhardt@mnbaseball.org
One of the benefits of winning Region 12 — drafting Delano’s Max Otto.
The Buffalo Bulldogs took Otto as the No. 1 draft pick following their Region 12 championship and he rewarded them with a dominating performance in a 3-0 second-round victory for Buffalo over St. Joseph at Tiger Park Friday in Belle Plaine.
Otto struck out 21 and allowed just four hits. He walked none and kept the Joes off-balance all night. Otto struck out the side three times and joined a list of four other pitchers to strike out 21 hitters at a state tournament game. Air Freight’s Brian Whinnery holds the record of 22 strikeouts in one game, set in 2005. Last season, Air Freight pitcher Graham Laubscher struck out 21 hitters in two different games.
“Once I got to the fifth I started to loosen up a little bit,” Otto said. “I haven’t faced live batters since we got knocked out. Felt weird at first but I settled in. My stuff doesn’t move a lot so I get a lot of swings and (Justin Johnson) did a good job just not going away from the fastball. Three of their four hits were off off-speed.”
Buffalo got an insurance run in the eighth inning after loading the bases. With one out a wild pitch on a swinging third strike allowed Evan Soeffker to cross the plate to make it 3-0.
St. Joseph made its first trip to the state tournament since 2017 and picked up a 2-0 opening round victory over Jackson with its starter Joey Atkinson twirling a one-hitter. Atkinson threw the first five innings and allowed two runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out nine.
Otto got all the run support he needed in the first inning courtesy of a two-run home run from Buffalo’s Ramon Vega Jr. Vega finished 2-for-3 to lead the Bulldogs, who tallied six hits in the game.
The Bulldogs last made the state tournament in 2020 and reached the final eight before falling to eventual champion Fairmont. Buffalo will try to have a longer run this season.
“We’ve had guys coming and going the last few years but this year it’s been the same core,” Buffalo manager Corey Braun said. “The same guys showing up every game. That’s been the main thing.”
Part of the reason the Bulldogs haven’t made the state tournament is the toughness of Region 12, which produced last year’s state champion Maple Lake.
“You go in 2020 and you think you’re going to go back every single year after that after you go once,” Braun said. “You’ve got most of the same guys back. Our region is so hard that it’s not that easy to get back. It’s harder in regions because of guys like (Loretto’s) Corey Koskie, Caleb Koskie that aren’t around all year and then they show up in regions. It makes it that much more tough.”
The Bulldogs will get the winner of Carver-Watkins next Saturday in Belle Plaine at 4 p.m. for another shot at the final eight.
