Indians advance to semis

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

CHASKA -- Mother Nature must not be a baseball fan.

Another steady rain postponed Sleepy Eye's attempt to reach the championship game in the Class 1A State Baseball Tournament Thursday, forcing the Indians to take on Ely at 10 a.m. today in semifinal action at Chaska Athletic Park.

A win would give Sleepy Eye a berth in the title game at 7 p.m. today in Chaska, while a loss would send the Indians to the third-place game at 3 p.m. today

Before the rain came, Sleepy Eye defeated Bertha-Hewitt 11-1 in quarterfinal action.

The Indians were stifled by Bear left-hander Andy Kirscht through the first four innings, but broke through with nine runs in the fifth en route to the quarterfinal win at Jordan's Mini Met.

"We knew that if we put (the ball) in play we'd be OK," Sleepy Eye coach Bruce Belseth said. "(Kirscht) did a great job through the first four innings, mowing us down, but once we got runners on base we came through with some clutch hits."

Kirscht and Cole Deibele battled through the first few innings, throwing zeros on the board as neither team's offense mounted a serious threat. Deibele ended the game with a four-hitter, striking out five and walking none.

"We're getting used to it," Belseth said of Deibele. "Just another tremendous job by Cole. He goes out there, mixes up speeds, hits his spots, and keeps the other team totally off-balance."

After Kirscht fanned six through the first four innings, errors crippled Bertha-Hewitt in the fifth as Deibele reached on the first miscue and took third on the second. Kirscht then dropped an easy pop-up to load the bases with no out, and Bryce Belseth delivered the first clutch hit of the game -- a two-run double down the right field line that plated both Deibele and Ross Lendt.

"That (third error) was a back-breaker for them and an ice-breaker for us," Bruce Belseth said. "It changed the momentum or at least shifted it our way. I felt sorry for (Kirscht) when he missed that ball, but we had to take advantage and Bryce started it off for us."

The Indians loaded the bases again with one out and Jim Eckstein drew a four-pitch walk that plated the third run of the game. Bryan Weiss and Lendt both had two-run singles later in the frame, and Steve Geschwind's RBI base hit pushed the lead to 8-0. Lendt scored the final run of the inning as relief pitcher Cody Kneisl balked.

"It was a huge inning for us ... huge," Belseth said. "Once we started hitting the ball, the hits kept coming."

The Indians tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the sixth as Loren Havemeier ripped an RBI double to the gap in left-center and scored on an Eckstein ground out.

The Bears finally touched Deibele for a run in the bottom half -- on a Kirscht RBI ground out -- but Sleepy Eye's hurler got Jeremy Payne to pop to first to end the game.

SLEEPY EYE 000 092 -- 11 7 2

BERTHA-HEWITT 000 001 -- 1 4 3

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