Essig still in

running for

state tourney

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

ESSIG -- Terry Helget went 4-for-4 and drove in four runs as the Essig Bluejays slapped out 17 hits and slammed the New Ulm Brewers 11-3 Saturday afternoon in the Region 2C double round-robin playoffs.

Essig will now play at Sleepy Eye at 1 p.m. today for the right to join the Brewers in the Minnesota Class C amateur baseball tournament. The tournament will begin Saturday in St. Cloud and Cold Spring.

Left-hander Kevin Hulke went the distance in getting the win for the Bluejays. He allowed eight hits and struck out five.

Jeremy Wieland took the loss for the Brewers, going 3 2-3 innings. He was touched for seven runs on nine hits. Dayton Larson relieved Wieland and permitted the final four runs.

Ryan Weier and Lee Haala each had two hits for the Jays. Doug Radloff and Scott Surprenant each had doubles for Essig.

Scott O'Brien was the only Brewer with more than one hit, going 2-for-5. Jon Beckius belted a solo home run in the fourth inning for New Ulm. Roddy Melzer and Corey Schaefer each doubled for the Brewers.

"We hit the ball very well. We had 17 hits -- and we got a good pitching performance from Kevin," said Essig manager Doug Radloff. "We also played good defense (one error in the game). We just played good ball today."

It just wasn't the Brewers day.

"We wanted to win, but obviously things did not go our way," commented Brewers manager Chris Peters. "We were missing a few starters today. We had to make some changes and play some other guys who hadn't played much. But they are good players and can do the job like the others can. We are just looking forward to getting some extra at-bats now, coming into the state tournament."

Essig wasted little time in taking command of the contest with two first-inning runs.

Weier singled, swiped second and took third on a John Giefer groundout. That brought up Helget, who laced Wieland's first pitch over the fence in left for a lead that Essig never lost.

The Jays tacked on three more in the third. Weier and Giefer singled, and a Helget base hit to left plated Weier. Doug Radloff followed with an RBI double to right field before Helget trotted home on Larry Haala's sacrifice fly for a 5-0 Essig lead.

New Ulm cut into that lead with a a single run in the top of the fourth when the Brewers loaded the bases on a fielder's choice and two walks. Jeremy Wieland's infield single then brought in the Brewers' first run. But it was an inning where the Brewers left the bases loaded.

Essig ended Wieland's pitching day with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lee Haala singled and moved to third on Travis Walden's base hit. Weier walked to load the bases before Giefer lofted a fly ball to short right field that was caught by second baseman Ryan Newman. But Newman's throw home was too late to get Lee Haala, who tagged and scored on the play. Helget followed with his third hit of the game, singling in Walden.

"Terry has been hitting the ball very well for us all season," said Radloff about Helget, who hit his first home run of the season in the game. "But we have had other guys step up also with some key hits."

Beckius' home run in the top of the fifth plated New Ulm's second run. Kyle Helget singled in an Essig run in the bottom of the inning.

A fielder's choice gave Essig a run in the seventh inning with New Ulm scoring its final run in the eighth on a Melzer RBI double

The Bluejays added two more runs in the bottom of the inning on a Jeff Juni two-run double.

"We have Nick Seidl (draftee from Searles) ready to go (today) as well as (Lamberton draftee) Jake Jenniges," said Radloff. "We have a couple of strong arms left and may have an advantage there."

Despite the two straight losses going into the state tournament, Peters is not worried.

"We had some errors (in the loss to Stark), but I think that it was a good thing that happened to us," he said. "We can use that knowing that we can get beat if we play (poorly) in the state tournament."

NEW ULM 000 110 010-- 3 8 1

ESSIG 203 210 12x--11 17 1

W--Hulke. L--Wieland. 2B--New Ulm, C.Schaefer, Melzer; Essig, Radloff, Surprenant. 3B--None. HR--New Ulm, Beckius; Essig, T.Helget.