Nothing was going to stop the right-hander, however, from putting an end to the game himself.

With two outs and a runner on second, the senior recorded his 11th strikeout of the game to lift fourth-seeded Springfield to a 5-1 win over the second-seeded Parkers Prairie Panthers in the Class A State Baseball Tournament Championship game.

After that strikeout, Jakob Nachreiner stood on the mound and raised his arms while looking to the Tigers’ dugout. Seconds later, he smiled as his teammates swarmed and tackled him to the ground in celebration.

“It was an incredible feeling,” Jakob Nachreiner said. “I don’t think I really had much going through my head at the time. It just kind of didn’t feel real.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield Tigers senior Jakob Nachreiner yells in celebration after crossing home plate during the Class A State Baseball Tournament Championship game against Parkers Prairie on Friday at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Jakob Nachreiner finished the complete-game win allowing four hits and two walks for one earned run.

Parkers Prairie pitcher Dylan Debilzen pitched six innings in the loss, allowing nine hits and a walk for two earned runs while striking out seven. He hit one batter.

The Tigers took home their school’s second state title in baseball with Friday’s win, with their first coming in 2016. Tigers head coach Brandon Wilhelmi was an assistant coach at the time of that 2016 championship, and now he’s got one to celebrate as head coach.

“It means the world to me,” Wilhelmi said. “I’ve been playing sports for a long time, been coaching for quite a while, too. I’ve had a lot of great mentors, people that show you the way, what works. … But we’ve had great coaches. One guy that sticks out to me is Bob Fink. When I came back to Springfield, he was the head baseball coach, first year when I got back as well. The culture that he established was amazing.

“Before him was Brady Schwab, Brady Schwab was a college player, he was my coach in high school, he had standards and he showed you the way as well. And then coach Paul Dunn, who was state champion in football and softball coach, and I learned from him and all the other guys in between, too. They’ve been great to me. I hope someday I can return the favor to everybody that I coached with.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Russell Beers celebrates at first after a hit during the Class A State Baseball Tournament Championship against Parkers Prairie at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Wilhelmi also credited his coaching staff for their hard work in helping the team take home another state title.

The Panthers jumped on the Tigers right away in the first inning with a leadoff single by Debilzen, who led his team at the plate by going 2 for 3. After Jakob Nachreiner got a strikeout, Nolan Steidl doubled to right-center to score Debilzen and have the Panthers up 1-0.

A wild pitch moved Steidl to third before Zachary Mrnack walked and stole second. Mason Boesl took first on a fielder’s choice to load the bases, but the Tigers’ ace settled in and got back-to-back strikeouts to escape any more danger.

“I’ve been in that situation before where the first few guys get on, they score a run in the first inning,” Jakob Nachreiner said. “But it’s all just about staying calm, taking a deep breath every once and a while, slowing things down and being able to put it where I need to to make our team successful.”

Jakob Nachreiner quickly made up for his first inning on the mound by reaching in the bottom of the first with a leadoff double to right field. Russell Beers dropped down a sac bunt to move Jakob Nachreiner to third before Kaden Nachreiner doubled to left to score his older brother and make it 1-all.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Kadyn Anderson tries to slide into home after a flyout in the fifth inning but is tagged out by Parkers Prairie catcher David Revering during Friday’s Class A state baseball title game at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Jakob Nachreiner ended up leading his team at the plate also, going 3 for 4, while Beers went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and Aiden Moriarty was 2 for 3 with an RBI.

Madden Lendt had a leadoff single in the bottom of the third before Jakob Nachreiner singled and stole second. Beers then reached on an error that scored Lendt and let Jakob Nachreiner take third.

Beers stole second before a groundout brought up catcher Jackson Ludewig, who had a sac fly to bring home Jakob Nachreiner and move Beers to third. Moriarty then singled to left to make it 4-1 Springfield after three.

Beers gave the Tigers an insurance run in the sixth on a single to center that scored Brecken Heiling, who reached second on an error to lead off before being bunted to third by Lendt.

Beers was without a hit in the state semifinals game against Cherry, but his bat was alive and well on Friday.

“It means a lot, obviously, knowing that Nachy [Jakob] can step up there, have three or four hits a game and consistently get on base,” Beers said. “But then just being able to step up in a time where maybe you need to make a play, it’s happened a couple times throughout the season, and just being able to come through and knowing that if I’m doing my job to help the team, knowing that there’s guys behind me that can string together even more hits, that just boosts my confidence even more.”

After a groundout started the seventh, David Revering made it to second on a throwing error before a flyout had the Tigers an out away from victory. As the rain started to pick up, Jakob Nachreiner got Mrnack to strike out swinging to give the Tigers their state championship.

The rain pushed this game from June 17 to Friday. While early radar indicated a rainy Friday, the Class A state title game was able to finish in an hour and a half and avoid heavy rain.

“You’ve got to give credit to the kids, they locked in,” Wilhelmi said. “We went up on Sunday night, we hung out, they had a good time in the hotel and then Monday morning, we’re eating breakfast at 6:45 and getting ready to go at Target Field and we get that call that it’s called off. Then you look at the radar and everything else, it’s like, ‘Boy, I don’t know how we’re going to do this.’

“Then we had to go home and do this again in four days or whatever, so for the kids to stay locked in, ready to roll, it’s a credit to them and their mindset. We went back, we just handled it, business like usual. We can’t control that. What we can control is being ready for whenever we do play. Honestly, we didn’t know if it was going to be Friday, didn’t know if it was going to be Saturday or a Monday, but, regardless, we had one more game to play and we knew what we wanted to accomplish.”

Jakob Nachreiner, Kade Nachreiner, and Moriarty were named to the All-State Tournament Team.

Beers, a junior outfielder, said he was happy to make history with his teammates but is already setting goals for next season.

“It felt awesome, but I would say that feeling went away in about maybe 5-10 minutes,” Beers said. “All season it’s been looking to the next game and how we can improve and continue to get better. It was really fun to celebrate that, but I would say I’m already looking forward to the next season … continue to grow as a team and eventually go back to the same game and take it home again.”