File photo by Travis Rosenau Stark pitcher Adam Sellner throws a pitch during a Region 2C amateur baseball playoff game.

FARIBAULT — Behind a dominant performance on the mound from Adam Sellner and a six-run ninth inning, the Stark Longhorns topped the Bemidji Blue Ox 7-3 Sunday in the Class C Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament at Bell Field.

The win moves the Longhorns on as one of the final 16 teams in the tournament. They will now play at 7:30 p.m. Friday night in Dundas at Memorial Park.

Stark’s win over Maple Lake last Saturday was the first state tournament win for Stark since 1988. This past weekend’s win showed a lot of everything from the Longhorns and further solidified the fact that they’re not to be taken lightly.

“To garner respect, you’ve got to win games in the state tournament, that’s just the way it is,” Stark manager Dusty Mangen said. “And we haven’t won since ’88, so we really didn’t deserve that respect. But now that we’ve won two and the way we’ve played, we’ve beat two teams that theoretically should have beat us, but the matchups were good for both teams for us.

“There was no time that we thought we were ever an underdog. We know if we play well, we’re a really tough team to beat. We’re strong one through nine, we can play defense and we can pitch, and if you can do all three of those things and at a state-caliber level, it’s going to take a team playing really good to beat you.”

The left-handed Sellner had a no-hitter going through 5 2/3 innings before a soft ground-ball single to right by Connor McNallan got the Blue Ox into the hit column.

Sellner ended up pitching eight innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits, two walks and an HBP. He struck out six and had three 1-2-3 innings.

“If you ask anybody in our league, the first time you face Adam, he’s extremely tough to hit,” Mangen said of Sellner. “The better hitting team you are, the harder it is to face Adam. … He’ll pitch backwards to you the whole game, he’ll never give into what his game plan is. I knew that the Bemidji matchup would probably be a stronger matchup for him than Maple Lake just for the fact that Bemidji’s team is trying to hit home runs, they’re trying to drive the ball, and if he faces guys like that, that’s when he’s at his best.”

Not only did Sellner come up big on the mound, he also led the Stark bats by going 2 for 4 on the day.

Justin Haugo, Springfield draftee, entered in relief in the bottom of the ninth inning with two on and gave up one hit while striking out one.

Bemidji starting pitcher Isaiah Biehn took the loss in eight innings, giving up three earned runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out three. He was relieved by Turner Storm in the ninth with two runners on.

The Longhorns grabbed the first lead of the game in the top of the eighth. After Nick Labat hit a leadoff double to left and David Surprenant flew out, catcher Tim Seifert singled up the middle to score Labat from second and give the Longhorns the late 1-0 lead.

Bemidji ended up getting that run back in the bottom of the eighth after Cody Rutledge drew a two-out walk and scored from second on an RBI double down the right field line by Collin Rutledge. Cody Rutledge got to second after getting caught in a rundown and interference was called on the play.

Stark then broke things open in the ninth, filling the bases after a Brandon Helget leadoff single, an infield single by Sellner and a bunt single by Zach Haala. Dylan Klein was then hit by a pitch to bring home Helget and give Stark a 2-1 lead.

Labat fouled out for the first out of the inning, but Surprenant got a two-run single to score Sellner and Haala and put Stark up 4-1. After Storm struck out Seifert, Sean Mathiowetz blooped a pitch into center field in between three Bemidji fielders to score Klein and Surprenant.

Mathiowetz was credited with an RBI single but took extra bases on the play and ended up scoring on an error.

After a throw home to try to get Surprenant was not in time, Bemidji catcher Caleb Manecke threw the live ball back to Storm, who was returning to the mound. The heads-up Mathiowetz took off from third to home on that throw and Storm’s quick toss back to home got away, allowing Mathiowetz to score for a 7-1 Stark lead.

Mathiowetz was also playing against his first cousin in Bemidji shortstop Mitch Hendricks. This was the first time the two have faced each other in any sport.

Hendricks was held without a hit.

Bemidji got two runs back in the ninth after Bazil Zuehlke, who ended up going 2 for 4, singled in Ben Thoma and Storm. Haugo got three consecutive outs after that, though, to seal the deal.

Stark will now have a short turnaround when it plays Friday night. A win Friday night would give the Longhorns a day of rest, however, as their next game would take place Sunday.

“Every team you face in the final 16 is going to be a legit baseball team,” Mangen said. “And it’s just going out there and doing what we’ve been doing — playing defense, throwing strikes and having timely hitting.

“It doesn’t matter who you face, that’s always the name of the game. If you do those things, you can beat anybody if you have the talent, and we have the talent to compete at the state level. Hopefully we can keep that going into next weekend.”