Hermantown & Floodwood Ready For State Baseball

n the 14th year of a three-class format, St. Agnes of St. Paul in Class A is the only returning champion. A new champion will emerge in Class AA because Holy Family Catholic of Victoria failed to qualify this year. A new champion will also emerge in Class AAA because Eastview of Apple Valley failed to qualify this year.

Five teams qualified for the first time this year: Osakis and Floodwood in Class A; Watertown-Mayer and Minnehaha Academy of Minneapolis in Class AA; and Lakeville North in Class AAA.

This is the first year that the tournament has been seeded. The eight coaches of the section champions logged onto a special page of the League Web site and each coach ranked the other teams one through seven. The highest and lowest rankings for each team were discarded, leaving five rankings for each team. From those rankings, the teams were seeded one through five. In conference calls with all eight head coaches, League Associate Director Kevin Merkle announced the top five seeds. From there, a blind draw was conducted to determine the opponents for the top three seeds. Seeds four and five were paired without a draw.

The six teams that advance to title games will compete at Target Field in Minneapolis on Monday, June 17. All three games will be webcast live by GrandStadium on Prep45.com. The Class A title game will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the Class AA championship game at 1 p.m. The Class AAA title game is scheduled for 4 p.m.

The initial rounds of the tournament will be played Thursday and Friday, June 13 and 14, at locations across the state. Class A quarterfinals, championship semifinals and the third-place game will be played at the Mini Met in Jordan, and consolation semifinals and consolation championship will be played at Chaska Athletic Park. The Class AA quarterfinals, championship semifinals and the third-place game will be played at Dick Putz Field, and consolation semifinals and consolation championship will be played at the adjacent Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. The Class AAA quarterfinals, championship semifinals and the third-place game will be played at Midway Stadium in St. Paul, and consolation semifinals and consolation championship will be played at Dick Siebert Field on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.

Class A Quarterfinals
(Section 2) BOLD, Olivia (15-6) vs. (No. 1 Seed – Section 1) Wabasha-Kellogg (17-1) – 10:00 a.m. June 13 at Mini Met, Jordan.
(No. 5 Seed – Section 3) Windom Area (13-8) vs. (No. 4 Seed – Section 4) St. Agnes, St. Paul (13-6) – 12:30 p.m. June 13 at Mini Met, Jordan.
(Section 8) Blackduck (18-3) vs. (No. 3 Seed – Section 5) Osakis (18-2) – 3:00 p.m. June 13 at Mini Met, Jordan.
(Section 7) Floodwood (17-2) vs. (No. 2 Seed – Section 6) New York Mills (19-2) – 5:30 p.m. June 13 at Mini Met, Jordan.

Class AA Quarterfinals
(Section 3) Luverne (20-4) vs. (No. 1 Seed – Section 6) St. Cloud Cathedral (23-2) – 10:00 a.m. June 13 at Dick Putz Field, St. Cloud.
(No. 5 Seed – Section 1) Kasson-Mantorville (22-6) vs. (No. 4 Seed – Section 7) Hermantown (20-3) – 12:30 p.m. June 13 at Dick Putz Field, St. Cloud.
(Section 2) Watertown-Mayer (16-8) vs. (No. 3 Seed – Section 4) Minnehaha Academy, Minneapolis (17-5) – 3:00 p.m. June 13 at Dick Putz Field, St. Cloud.
(Section 8) Perham (16-5) vs. (No. 2 Seed – Section 5) Delano (17-2) – 5:30 p.m. June 13 at Dick Putz Field, St. Cloud.

Class AAA Quarterfinals
(Section 6) Wayzata (15-6) vs. (No. 1 Seed – Section 5) Coon Rapids (17-3) – 10:00 a.m. June 13 at Midway Stadium, St. Paul.
(No. 5 Seed – Section 7) Forest Lake (18-5) vs. (No. 4 Seed – Section 4) Mounds View (17-6) – 12:30 p.m. June 13 at Midway Stadium, St. Paul.
(Section 8) Rocori, Cold Spring (16-8) vs. (No. 3 Seed – Section 3) Lakeville North (19-4) – 3:00 p.m. June 13 at Midway Stadium, St. Paul.
(Section 1) Rochester Mayo (14-11) vs. (No. 2 Seed – Section 2) Minnetonka (21-6) – 5:30 p.m. June 13 at Midway Stadium, St. Paul.