Farming won a dramatic, 10-inning 5-4 win over St. Martin on Saturday, clinching a state tournament berth for the first time since 2019.
After St. Martin took a 1-0 lead, Farming rallied for two runs in the fourth. Ethan Navratil singled, and Isaac Nett doubled Ethan to third. Adam Winkels followed by drilling a two-run double, scoring Ethan and Isaac. Josh Becker and Tylor Schroeder both followed with singles; however, two Farming base runners were picked off second base to end the inning.
St. Martin tied it up at 2 in the bottom of four. The teams then proceeded to play five consecutive scoreless innings. St. Martin had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out in the bottom of the ninth, but draftee Trent Wendlandt got the key out to send the game into extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Farming put together a big three run rally. Breyden Einyck reached on an error by the third baseman, and Carson Holthaus sacrificed him to second. Will Mergen doubled to left with Breyden reaching third (he had to wait up to see if the ball was going to be caught). Ethan was walked intentionally to load the bases. Isaac followed with a clutch two-run single, scoring Breyden and Will and sending Ethan to third. Ethan scored on a sacrifice fly by Adam Winkels.
In the bottom of the 10th, Trent surrendered a walk and a two-run homer but then retired three St. Martin batters to finish off the ballgame 5-4. Trent got the win, pitching the last two innings. Adam Nibaur started and pitched very well, going the first eight innings for the Flames.
Next up is a seeding game vs. Richmond on Sunday morning, 11:00am. The loser will be the fourth seed from 15C at next weekend’s state tournament. The winner will take on the Cold Spring Rockies at 1:30pm with the winner earning the #2 seed.
