Class 2A State Baseball Tourney: Glencoe-Silver Lake wins State Championship

The Glencoe-Silver Lake Panther defeated the Belle Plaine Tigers 10-0 on Friday afternoon at Target Field to win their first Class 2A State Championship.

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It took the Glencoe-Silver Lake baseball team just nine pitches to grab the lead.

Shortstop Jacob Christianson, catcher Zachary Voelz and third baseman Beau Lepel, the top three batters in the Panthers’ order, recorded three hits apiece as part of a 12-hit attack. Christianson and Voelz also scored three runs each. That offensive output was more than enough for pitcher Drew Hedtke. He stifled Belle Plaine on just one hit, needing just 83 pitches, 58 that were strikes.

Glencoe-Silver Lake (26-3) outscored the opposition 36-3 in three state tournament games. The Panthers were runner-ups in 2007 and won the consolation finals in 1996 and 2014.

Christianson opened the game with a single and then Voelz was hit by a pitch. Lepel singled home Christianson and the Panthers were off and running. The score stayed that way until the fourth inning when Glencoe-Silver Lake, winners of 16 of its final 17 games, combined four hits, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and two Belle Plaine errors for five runs to break the game open. Christianson doubled, scored a run, and knocked in a run in the outburst.

Later, Voelz and Lepel had back-to-back run-scoring doubles in a two-run fifth inning.

Hedtke was dominant from the start. He allowed only one runner to reach base. After sophomore catcher Jake Brandenburg led off the second inning with a single to left field, he was the only Belle Plaine player to reach the outfield, the right-hander retired the next 15 consecutive batters. He was on target all day, finishing with 11 strikeouts. Hedtke appeared in all three tournament games. He tossed a total of 12.1 innings, surrendering just five hits and no runs.

Sophomore pitcher Ethan Hoffman, the first of three Belle Plaine pitchers, worked the first 3 2/3 innings and took the loss. Belle Plaine, also the Class AA runner-up in 2016, finished the season 20-5.