Two playoff wins for Vikings; In semifinals

A little over a week ago the Vikings “laid an egg” at Slayton, losing in five innings, 12-0 to the Rebels of Murray County Central.
“We didn’t play very well down there,” said Teddy Pesch, who delivered a “save” with two innings of relief from Sam Buysse.
It was Landon Rolbiecki who delivered  two of Minneota’s four hits to lead a 3-0 Viking victory over the Rebels in Saturday’s second Section 3A contest. He knocked in all three runs. “I was happy to get it for the team,” he said.
Referring to the last time they played the Rebels Rolbiecki added, “It just goes to show how the game of baseball is ....”
After beating Lakeview 3-2 with only three hits, the Vikings had just one up sixth inning as they nursed a 2-0 lead.
AJ Myhre started the inning with a single, but got into a rundown and lost — the second Viking to lose that battle against MCC. But Thomas Hennen tripled and waited on third through a strikeout and walk before Rolbiecki delivered his second hit to provide an “insurance run”.
“Finally. It felt good to get connecting,” Hennen said after riding an 0-5 streak up to the triple that sliced away from the MCC left fielder.
It wasn’t Hennen’s bat that saved the day as much as his fielding. For the second straight game he turned a double play — this time by himself in the seventh when he ran to the bag for one out and fired to Austin Sorensen at first for the twin killing.
“I was taking it myself all the time — it was much faster,” he said about the play that ended a potential Rebel uprising and shut the door on the No. 4 ranked team.
Earlier in the day Murray County Central beat Wabasso, 7-5 to send the Rabbits home and end their tournament.
The Rebels lefty Kyler Deacon was stingy giving up hits. But what he couldn’t control was the Minneota defense that shut the door on every MCC rally.
In the second they had the bases loaded but Buysse fanned two batters and got the third to fly out to end the threat. They had two more on in the sixth after a pair of Viking miscues and hit by Danny Blankenship. But that’s when Pesch came on to quell the uprising.

MINNEOTA scored their first two runs in the first inning — taking advantage of a couple of Rebel errors as Rolbiecki lined a single to knock home two runs.
Buysse, who only walked two, was in control most of the way — until the sixth when he needed Pesch’s help.
Pesch, who has been the late-inning relief specialist said he likes that role just fine. It allows him to, “Throw everything I’ve got.”
The small amount of hits, Rolbiecki says, is attributed to the fact it’s the playoffs and, “Everyone is throwing their best pitcher.” He added, “It’s hard (to hit) sometimes.”
The Vikings are aware it’s been awhile since this team has won both tournament opening games. “It puts us in a good spot,” said Rolbiecki.
Now the Vikings move on to play Tuesday at Milroy as one of the undefeated teams.
Kerkhoven-Murdock Sunburg will play Adrian at 5 p.m. at Milroy Yankees Park followed by Minneota vs. Lac qui Parle Valley.
The consolation games will include Yellow Medicine East vs. Renville Co. West at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Montevideo and Murray County Central at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Jackson.
The tournament continues on Thursday, May 30 at Milroy.
Here are the scores from Saturday’s games:
Section 3A North
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 13, Dawson-Boyd 1
    (Dawson-Boyd eliminated)
Yellow Medicine East 4, Canby 1
    (Canby eliminated)
Renville County West 12, Central MN Christian 2
    (Central MN Christian eliminated)
Lac qui Parle Valley 6, MACCRAY 3
    (MACCRAY eliminated)
Section 3A South
Minneota 3, Lakeview 2
    (Lakeview eliminated
Murray County Central 7, Wabasso 5
    (Wabasso eliminated)
Adrian 11, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 1
    (Russell-Tyler-Ruthton eliminated)
Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian 3, Red Rock Central 2
    (Red Rock Central eliminated)
Second Round
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 1, Yellow Medicine East 1
Lac qui Parle Valley 3, Renville Co. West 2
Minneota 3, Murray County Central 0
Adrian 3, Edgerton/SWMC 1

MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Thomas Hennen 3 2 1 0; Sam Buysse, p-cf 2 1 0 0; Teddy Pesch, 2b-p 2 0 0 0; Ben Skorczewski, cr 0 0 0 0; Landon Rolbiecki, lf 3 0 2 3; Jaymes Moon, cf-c 2 0 0 0; Austin Sorensen, 1b 2 0 0 0; Tate Walerius, dh 2 0 0 0; Cole Sanow, rf 0 0 0 0; Josh Laleman, 3b 2 0 0 0; Carter Schuelke, c 1 0 0 0; AJ Myhre, 2b 1 0 1 0. Totals 20 3 4 3.
MCC (AB-R-H-RBI) Nate Everson, ss 3 0 0 0; Spencer Wager, lf 4 0 1 0; Danny Blankenship, c 3 0 1 0; Justin Benda, cf 3 0 0 0; Kyler Deacon, p 3 0 1 0; Drew Coulter, 3b 3 0 0 0; Matt Woldt, rf 2 0 0 0; Cameron Kresko, 2b 3 0 1 0; Trevor Ackerman, dh 3 0 0 0; Cameron Boerboom, 1b 0 0 0 0. Totals 27 0 4 0.
Score by Innings
MCC              000 000 0  — 0 4 2
Minneota       200 001 x  — 3 4  3
E-Minneota: Sorensen, Moon, Hennen; MCC: Coulter, Deacon. LOB-Minneota: 2; MCC: 8. SB-MCC: Wager, Deacon 2, Coulter. DP-Minneota 6-3 (7). 3B-Minneota: Hennen.
Pitching                     IP    R    ER  H   BB  K
Minneota
Buysse (W)               5      0    0     3     2     5
Pesch (S)                  2      0   0      1    0      2
MCC
Deacon (L)                6      3    1     4     2      5
HP-Everson (by Pesch). PB-Schuelke.