2017 Section 6AAAA Baseball Preview

                                                      2017 SECTION 6AAAA BASEBALL PREVIEW

Despite the rain and chilly weather the last few days, it's time for high school baseball to begin the road to Target Field as HSGN previews the 2017 Section 6AAAA Baseball Tournament

The top seeded and defending state Class AAAA champion Wayzata Trojans got off to a solid 5-0 start before losing to their Lake Conference rival the Minnetonka Skippers.  They played the Skippers for the second time this season and lost 4-3 on May 19.  Looking to pull off the upset is the eighth seeded Minneapolis South Tigers.  Even though they have a winning record, the Tigers were seeded ahead of the Cooper Hawks who had only two wins this season, including one that came against the St. Louis Park Orioles in the second game of a doubleheader on May 15.  Mpls. South will need to solve Wayzata's pitching and score runs in bunches.

Though the St. Louis Park Orioles have a sub .500 record, they are the fourth seed and host the fifth seeded Minneapolis Washburn Millers.  The Orioles will need to get solid pitching and cut down on errors to escape a 2-6 run since they upset Wayzata 5-4 on May 6.  A player to keep an eye on is the future of the program in eight grader Sam Hunt.  He can play three positions, catcher, pitcher and the outfield.  The Millers went undefeated in the Minneapolis City Conference and rode an eight game winning streak early in the season including three shut outs that ended early due to the ten run rule.  Can the Orioles shut down the Millers offensive attack?

Now to the lower bracket as the second seeded Hopkins Royals take on the seventh seeded Cooper Hawks.  After enduring a couple of three game losing streaks this season, the Royals look like their putting things together as they beat Lake Conference rival Eden Prairie and shut out the St. Louis Park Orioles 7-0 on May 22.  Hopkins played Washburn on May 8 and won their only game via the 10 run rule 14-3.  As for the Hawks, they need to have an excellent all around game to beat the Royals just like they did in the May 15 nightcap against St. Louis Park.  But what's baffling is that why a team with only two regular season wins is seeded seventh instead of eighth.  Can they be the sleeper team and prove that their season wasn't all that bad?

Concluding the quarterfinal bracket is the sixth seeded Minneapolis Southwest Lakers and the third seeded Armstrong Falcons.  The Lakers have won six of their last seven games that included a four game stretch where they outscored their opponents 55-7.  They have scored more than 10 runs in seven of their wins this season.  They were scheduled to play Cooper on May 20 but that game like many others was postponed due to the all day rain that pelted the Twin Cities area.  The Falcons, despite a 9-10 record faced Washburn in their regular season finale and won 9-5 in eight innings.  They played Hopkins on April 12 and came up short 7-6.  Is a rematch in the works?

So there you have it.  A look at the matchups in Section 6AAAA.  Can Mpls. South do what Holy Angels did several years ago in Section 4AA and come up from the eighth seed to the section final?  There's plenty of exciting section baseball that begins on Wednesday, May 24.