SLP Orioles Advance in Section 6AAAA Baseball

 Memorial Day would be memorable for the St. Louis Park Orioles as Drew Boyum struck out five batters and allowed only four hits to help beat the Armstrong Falcons 3-1 in the opening round of the Section 6AAAA Baseball Tournament Monday night at Derrick Keller Field at Dakota Park.  

It looked like the Falcons would get the early lead in the top of the first inning with Grant Proctor reaching first base on an error by Oriole shortstop Ben Farley and Dayton Franke advancing Proctor to second on a single.  But Farley redeemed himself after the error by starting a double play to prevent Armstrong from scoring.  St. Louis Park would take the lead in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single that scored leadoff batter Stanley Regguinti.  

The Orioles would add another run in the bottom of the second that started with a double by Zach Helfmann.  Henry Odens singled to move Helfmann to third and he stole second, putting two runners in scoring position.  Then came Brady Walsh.  He hit a ground ball to Armstrong pitcher Dylan Inniger and Walsh was out at first.  Franke relayed the ball to Proctor at third and Odens was thrown out.  Helfmann would cross the plate for the Orioles second run.  

St. Louis Park would complete the scoring in the bottom of the fifth when Regguinti was hit by a pitch and he would score on Farley's double.  The Orioles would have a golden opportunity to widen their lead in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded but Regguinti would fly out to the right fielder Drew Kuempel to keep their run total at three.  

Boyum would help preserve the Oriole lead by allowing only two base runners in the final four innings.  He gave up a leadoff single to Isaac Pilon in the top of the sixth and with two outs in the top of the seventh, Inniger reached base on Farley's second error.  But the St. Louis Park shortstop would would catch a fly ball from Eric Berg to send the fans who packed the St. Louis Park end of the bleachers home happy.  

The Orioles improved their record to 13-8 and will head to Plymouth on Tuesday, June 1 to face the top seeded Wayzata Trojans. Time TBD.  The Falcons fell to 9-12 and will also be in action on the first as they host the Minneapolis South Tigers with the time also TBD.