St. Mary's advances to stateStrong bats keep defending Class A state champs going

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

MANKATO -- Even though he's won a state championship before, Sleepy Eye St. Mary's senior Andy Cook still wants to go out on top as he helped St. Mary's defeat New Ulm Cathedral 10-8 Thursday in the Section 2A championship game at Franklin Rogers Park.

"We get to go out and do it all over again," Cook said. "It's a lot of fun up at state, so we know how it feels. We'll get a good experience again."

Cook went 3-for-3 with three runs scored as St. Mary's continued to hit the ball hard. The Knights scored a run in every inning but the sixth.

"Our bats are really rolling right now, so hopefully we can keep that going," Cook said. "They came out and scored two early runs [in the first inning], and that was the first time that's happened all year, so it was a little scary. I give them credit. But we hit it good too."

Cathedral started Eric Portner, who shut down the Knights the last time he faced them in May. The Knights were ready for Portner this time around as he lasted 3 1/3 innings. Portner struck out three and gave up six runs.

"We just tried to hit it hard," Cook said. "Last time we popped it up a lot and this time we were concentrating on more grounders and line drives."

"I think our guys were a little bit more patient at the plate this time around than they were last time," St. Mary's coach Bruce Woitas said. "We didn't do some chasing, so I'm real happy with the way our kids responded."

St. Mary's finished with 13 hits and took advantage of four Cathedral errors. Cathedral had eight hits and were led by Mitch Palmer, who finished 2-for-5 and Andy Boyle, who went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.

"I'm very proud of the way we hit the ball," Cathedral coach Bob Weier said. "It's kind of a follow-up of our recent playoff games. But I'm most proud that we competed today. We didn't play the best defense that we can, but we competed in other ways to keep our ballclub into this ballgame."

Cathedral went up 2-0 after Adam Prochniak and Palmer scored on Adam Neubauer's double. St. Mary's then took the lead in the bottom of the first after Matt Mathiowetz, Matt Gangelhoff and Cook all scored to start the inning. The first five Knight hitters reached base.

Cathedral tied it in the second when Portner walked and scored on Boyle's double. The Knights scored again in the second after Cook's single scored Jake Bohnen. Bohnen finished 3-for-4.

In the third, Prochniak doubled and scored to tie it 4-4. St. Mary's tacked on two runs in the third before going up 8-4 in the fourth after Cook and Brett Braulick scored. Tim Braulick drove in Cook with a single and Joey Wahl doubled to score Brett Braulick.

Cathedral kept going and scored two in the sixth inning after Boyle singled and Wilfahrt reached due to an error. Both scored to make it 8-6. St. Mary's scored twice in the fifth and found itself hanging on for dear life after Mathiowetz walked in two runs in the top of the seventh to make it 10-8. Mathiowetz got Palmer on a ground ball to first base and St. Mary's advanced to the state tournament for the third year in a row, having placed second in 2001 before winning it all last year.

"They've been here before and their experience showed," Weier said. "Hopefully we gained some experience."

St. Mary's (22-3) plays the Section 5 champion at 10 a.m. Thursday in Chaska.