Owatonna Legion Baseball Falls to Patriots, Faces Long Road Back

[Schedule update]  Owatonna Post 77 American Legion baseball lost 10-8 to the Rochester Patriots on Thursday at Fuller Field in the sub-state playoffs.

(Update: Games for Friday in the sub-state 1 tournament are all postponed to Saturday at the same times. The championship game is now set for Monday, July 24 at 4PM at Fuller Field at Dartts Park. All Owatonna High School students are invited to Saturday's 4PM game at no gate charge to cheer on Owatonna Post 77.)

Owatonna's string of come-from-behind magic ended after winning their last three games that way. Now Post 77 has to win five straight games over three days to win the tournament. Rochester scored four in the second inning Thursday at Fuller Field. Owatonna got one back in the third and a three-run homer from Alec Holcomb afterward to tie the game at 4-4.

The contest was tied 5-5 after five and 7-7 after seven on Brady Schuster's two-run single. The Patriots scored three in the eighth. Owatonna countered with one in the bottom of the inning on a Noah Budach RBI.

Four games are scheduled Friday in the loser's bracket. Teams will see their pitching depth tested in this round, as games are now nine innings and strict pitching limits are enforced in Legion play as they were during high school ball. However, the Section 1 tournament during the high school season was spread over 11 days and teams never played on back-to-back days. Additionally, playoff games were seven innings during the spring season.

In other baseball news, Medford lost to Caedonia 4-1 in district playoff action. Medford plays an elimination game at 12:30PM Saturday in La Crescent. Owatonna's VFW team goes to Winona on Saturday for a 12:30PM game against Faribault.

Results of sub-state 1 American Legion playoffs
Thursday, July 20
Championship semifinals
No. 1 Austin 10, No. 5 Winona 4
No. 6 Rochester Patriots 10, No. 2 Owatonna 8

Friday, July 21  Saturday, July 22
Loser's bracket
No. 8 Rochester Redhawks vs. No. 4 Albert Lea, 10AM
No. 7 Rochester Eagles vs. No. 3 Rochester A's, 1PM
No. 2 Owatonna vs. Redhawks/Albert Lea winner, 4PM
No. 5 Winona vs. Eagles/A's winner, 7PM

All games are at Fuller Field at Dartt's Park in Owatonna.