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08/23/2006: "Bluejays play in South Dakota state baseball tourney"

The Crofton Bluejays qualified for the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association's state tournament, played in Mitchell, SD the last two weeks. The Jays won their opener over Sisseton, but were beaten by South Central League and Nebraska rivals Wynot in the second round. Wynot went on to make it to the Class B championship game where they lost to Redfield.

The Crofton Bluejays advanced to the second round of the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Tournament by turning back Sisseton, 8-5, on Saturday, Aug. 12 in Mitchell, SD.
The Jays, 17-5, were scheduled to meet South Central League and intra-stte rival Wynot in a second round contest on Tuesday, Aug. 15.
The Crofton bunch overcame a rough start as they comitted a pair of errors in the first two innings and let Sisseton grab a 1-0 first inning lead.
But Crofton evened the slate when Brian Guenther doubled home brother Tony in the top of the second stanza. But Sisseton came right back and regained the lead, 2-1 in the bottom of the frame.
From that point until the seventh inning, Crofton’s defense and Mike Sturm’s pitching only allowed one Sisseton baserunner. For their part, the Jays tallied a trio of runs, thanks to a single by Joe Wiebelhaus, double by Aaron Losing, a sacrifice fly by Tony Guenther, and a single by Carl Schieffer for a 4-2 lead.
Crofton added a run in the fifth, as Wiebelhaus singled home a run, and in the fifth, when Robbie Sturm pushed a run home on his groundout.
Chad Guenther made the count 7-2 when he lashed a home run, a rare feat for the very deep Cadwell Park field. Crofton completed its scoring in the eighth when Tony Guenther hit a sacrifice fly, giving Crofton an 8-2 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Sisseton tried to get a rally going, tallying three runs, to close the gap to 8-5, but their comeback ran out of steam.
The Crofton offnse was paced by Joe Wiebelhaus, who went 4-for-5 and had an rbi, and Luke Merkel, who went 3-for-4. Pitcher Mike Sturm had 13 strikeouts.

The Crofton Bluejays’ run in the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association’s state tournament came to a halt at the hands of a familiar foe ... Wynot.
The Jays’ rivals beat them 6-5. Wynot eventualy made it to the Class B championship game where they lost to Redfield.
Wynot jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the third inning, but Crofton scratched its way back into contention as Joe Wiebelhaus hit a double and scored on Alan Schieffer’s single in the bottom of the third. Crofton cut the margin to 3-2 when Carl Schieffer scored on Robbie Sturm’s flyout int he fourth.
The Bluejays grabbed the lead in the sixth as Luke Merkel walked to lead off. Brian Guenther bunted, and the Expos overthrew to second allowing Merkel and Guenther to remain safe. Sturm got hit to load the bases and Joe Wiebelhaus hit a long fly ball that pushed Merkel across for the tying run. Aaron Losing smacked a single to score Guenther and the Crofton bunch held a 4-3 lead.
But that lead was shortlived as Wynot tallied two on a costly Crofton outfield miscue that enabled Wynot to scor5e 2 runs. Scott Heine hit a home runin the top of the eighth to give Wynot a 6-4 margin.
But Crofton refused to go quietly, and in the bottom of the eighth, the Jays pulled within one when Alan Schieffer singled home Sturm. Crofton was unable to make anything else in the eighth, and had a rally going in the ninth when Wynot snuffed it for the win.