Indians top St. Mary's

for fifth time this year,

advance to 1A tourney

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

MANKATO -- A tattered cliche states it's difficult to beat the same team three times in one season.

If three is difficult, what about five?

The Sleepy Eye Indians advanced to the Class 1A state tournament, defeating Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 5-1 Tuesday for the Section 2-1A championship at Franklin Rogers Park. The win marked the fifth time this season the Indians have defeated the Knights.

"We had too many missed opportunities," St. Mary's coach Bruce Woitas said. "We had one taken away by a great throw from the outfield, another taken away by an umpire's call ... there's nothing else to say. (Sleepy Eye's) Cole Deibele did a great job pitching for them, and they took advantage of opportunities. We didn't."

Deibele was perfect through the first three innings of his complete-game effort, ending by giving up one unearned run on five hits while striking out four and walking two.

"Cole ... my goodness, what a game," Indians' coach Bruce Belseth said. "What a game he pitched. He was so focused, so in tune, and when he's on the mound you just feel confident.

"People always ask us who we're going to throw for this game or that game, who's you're No. 1 pitcher -- we don't have one. Different players step up when it's their turn to step up."

It didn't take his team long to give Deibele a lead as Loren Havemeier led off the bottom of the first with a double down the left field line and Cody Walter followed with an RBI single to center off starter Andy Konz.

"We felt the start of the game was real important today," Belseth said. "By getting just one run in the first inning, it eased us a little bit, took a little bit of the pressure off us."

That lead would grow to 3-0 after two innings as Bryce Belseth delivered a clutch two-out double that scored Deibele, and an outfield error on a Havemeier line shot plated Belseth for the three-run edge. Deibele's squeeze bunt in the fourth plated Jim Eckstein, and the Indians led 4-0.

"It was nice to see some of that hitting come through," Bruce Belseth said. "We had been struggling a little bit offensively, but one through nine I don't think you can stop our lineup totally every game. Today, that was evident."

On the mound, meanwhile, Deibele retired the first nine batters he faced and yielded just one walk through four innings. St. Mary's finally threatened in the fifth as Darrin Haala walked and David Haala followed with the first Knight hit of the game. Randy Braun's base hit loaded the bases with no outs, and the momentum of the game threatened to swing.

Deibele, and Bryce Belseth, made sure that didn't happen.

The Indian right-hander got Steven Eckstein to pop out to third, then induced a fly ball to right by John Pelzel for the second out. Belseth did the rest as he turned and gunned down Darrin Haala at the plate, keeping the Knights off the scoreboard and the momentum in the Indian dugout.

"What a double play," Bruce Belseth said. "It was extremely important just for the fact that run would have changed the atmosphere of (St. Mary's) dugout. Because of that (out) our dugout got a chance to explode, so it was huge."

Sleepy Eye was able to tack on an all-important insurance run in the sixth, knowing that St. Mary's had overcome a three-run deficit earlier in the tournament. Steve Geschwind reached on an infield single, took second on a wild pitch, was sacrificed to third and scored on another Dan Schwartz wild offering.

"That (last game) is why we bunted with no one out to get (Geschwind) to third," Belseth said. "Fortunately for us, we were able to push that run across."

St. Mary's would finally get on the board in the seventh as Ross Lendt's throwing error on a play at second allowed Randy Nissen to score with two outs. Deibele didn't let the error bother him as he got Adam Armbruster on a come-backer to end the game.

Konz was saddled with the loss for the Knights, yielding four runs on six hits while striking out one in two-plus innings. Schwartz did a great job in relief, yielding just that one run in the seventh.

The Indians (22-3) now move on to the state tournament, where they will face the Section 6-1A winner at 10 a.m. June 15 at the Mini-Met in Jordan.

"I'm extremely happy, especially for the seven seniors," Belseth said. "Also for the other players, the coaching staff, the parents, the fans ... it's so nice to see something this good happen to us.

"I also want to tip my hat to our nemesis, St. Mary's. My goodness, every time we turn around to play again there they were. They deserve all the credit in the world, too, and congratulate them on a great season."

ST. MARY'S 000 000 1 -- 1 5 2

SLEEPY EYE 121 001 x -- 5 8 1

W--Deibele. L--Konz. 2B--Sleepy Eye, Havemeier, Belseth, Eckstein.