Winona Cotter Defeats Rochester Lourdes in Section Championship to Reach State Tournament

(KWMN)-

Winona Cotter (24-3) traveled back to Mayo Field for the Section 1AA Championship game against Rochester Lourdes (16-10) for a trip to the Minnesota High School State Baseball Tournament.

The Ramblers looked for their first appearance in the dance since 2008, while the Eagles wanted to reach the state tournament since their third-place finish in 2022. The Ramblers would be able to clinch their spot in the dance with one win at Mayo Field.

The Eagles struck first in the opening inning, with Brayden Kottschade hit a liner past Rambler third-baseman Rawson Sullivan to send Nolan Rolih home for the first score of the game.

The Ramblers quickly responded with three consecutive hits from Dane Guzzo, KJ Kreidermacher, and Donny Bauers, which allowed Will Peterson and Guzzo to advance for their first two runs. Left fielder Devin Korder bumped Baures home off an error from an attempted ground-out which gave the Ramblers a 3-1 lead after one.

Guzzo ripped a sacrifice-fly to advance Moses O’Brien home for the fourth score in the bottom of the second. On the mound, Guzzo limited the Eagles to one hit on ten attempts after the first three at-bats. He would pick up three strikeouts in his start, including two in the top of the fourth to keep the Eagles at one run.

The Ramblers would extend their lead to 7-1 after four innings, highlighted by Sulivan grounder past shortstop which sent curtesy runner Andrew Killian for the final run of the inning.

In the top of the fifth, the Eagles’ offense exploded to cut the deficit 7-5. This run included four consecutive appearances with a run-batted-in. Vince Frisch entering the game to pick up the final out of the inning. The Ramblers responded with four runs of their own, including a Kreidermacher double to put himself and Guzzo in scoring position, and a 2-RBI single from Korder to start the offensive which earned their runs.

With Ramblers up 11-5 in the final inning, Frisch stepped back onto the mound with a chance to send the Ramblers to state. He struck out Connor Smith for the put the Rambler two-away. With 1-2 count, Frisch wound up his fastball and caught Isaiah Williams swinging to punch Winona Cotters ticket to the dance.

With their first trip to the tournament in 18 years, the Ramblers await their opponent and seed for the Minnesota State High School Baseball Tournament at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud.