By Joey Hudson
The Northfield Raiders baseball team traveled to Austin to take on the Stewartville Tigers in the section 1AAA semi-finals for a rematch from the end of the regular season. They met each other in Dundas back on May 13th in a game that ended with a Stewartville win. The Tigers did a lot of winning this season, coming into the matchup against the Raiders at 20-1. On the other side, the Northfield Raiders came into the game at 12-8 on the season. Despite the record disparity the Raiders were the #2 seed behind the Tigers coming into section play.
The Raiders attacked the Stewartville starting pitcher Boettecher out of the gate, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. The highlight of the first frame for the Raiders was an RBI double from senior Austin Koep into right center. Stewartville didn’t miss a beat in the bottom half of the inning getting after Raider starter Eli Mikkelson for five runs, three of which came off a double by third baseman Andrew Jelnik.
Koep’s RBI double into right center field
The two teams went back and forth for the next few innings, with the Raiders scoring one run in both the second and third innings, and the Tigers scoring one run in both the second and fourth innings.
Once the top of the fifth inning came around, however, the Raiders were ready to attack Boettecher, plating five runs. Seth Thompson lead off the inning getting hit by a pitch, before being brought home on an Aaron Reiestter home run into left field to tie up the game. Reiestter end the game going 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored.
Reiestter’s home run to left field
In the bottom half of the fourth inning, with one runner on, JT Graupmann took the mound for the Raiders and shut down the Tigers offense, recording 5 strikeouts while walking 2 and allowing only 1 hit. The Raiders scored one final time in the top of the sixth inning on Kyan Rauk sac fly to centerfield.
Ryan Cahoon embracing JT Graupmann after the final out, photo by Jim Wellbrock
The Raiders 11-7 win over Stewartville will bring them to the section championship game on Wednsday June 5th at 5:00 PM at Austin Marcusen yet again. For updates on that game check our upcoming schedule on northfieldlive.com and on social media @northfieldlive.
