Behind Schmitz’s perfect game, Sleepy Eye shut out Jackson 10-0 in six innings to move on to the tournament’s championship game where it downed Wabasso 11-1 in five innings at City Field.

Schmitz struck out 11 in his perfect game.

“He went out and he dominated today, he did exactly what we needed him to do today,” Sleepy Eye head coach Zach Haala said of Schmitz. “Perfect game is impressive no matter the team we play.”

At the plate against Jackson, Jonny Petermann was 3 for 4 with two RBIs, while Isaac Lendt was 2 for 3 with an RBI.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye’s Arian Saenz points to a teammate after scoring a run during Friday’s Sub-Sub State B playoff game with Wabasso at City Field in Wabasso. Saenz finished the game going 1 for 3 with an RBI. Sleepy Eye defeated Jackson 10-0 in six innings and Wabasso 11-1 in five innings Friday to earn a top seed in next weekend’s Sub-State tourney.

Mark Anderson got the five-inning mound win for Post 7 over Wabasso, who ran by Springfield 12-0 in five innings earlier in the day. Sleepy Eye was the No. 1 seed of the Sub-Sub State tourney, while Wabasso was the third seed and Springfield was the second seed.

Against Wabasso, Sleepy Eye was led by Austin Uecker, who was 3 for 3 with two RBIs. Petermann was 2 for 3 with a triple and three RBIs, while Arian Saenz and Owen Weiss each went 1 for 3 with an RBI. Anderson allowed four hits and two walks for one earned run while striking out seven.

Despite the tough loss, the good news for Wabasso is it guaranteed a spot in next weekend’s Sub-State tourney in Luverne with its first win Friday over Springfield. However, Wabasso will have to win another game Saturday to earn the second seed after its 1-1 finish on Friday.

Wabasso’s loss drops it to a 1:30 p.m. game back at City Field Saturday against the winner of Springfield-Jackson game, which will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday. The winner of the 1:30 p.m. game will be given a No. 2 seed in next weekend’s Sub-State tourney, while the loser will get the third seed.

Wabasso started the day by punching its ticket to the next round with a dominating 12-0 shutout of second-seeded Springfield in five innings.

Joe Liebl got the five-inning shutout in the opening game, striking out 11 while allowing two walks and just one hits to Madden Lendt. Adryen Tietz singled, walked three times and scored twice for Wabasso at the plate, while Jaxson Wagner had a double. Kaysen Harms reached three times by walk and scored all three times.

Sleepy Eye had a similar dominant start to the day, however, courtesy of Schmitz.

Sleepy Eye carried its dominance into the finals game against Wabasso, jumping out to a 2-0 lead off Wabasso starter Noah Anderson in the first inning. Sleepy Eye got its two first-inning runs when Uecker scored after Caden Evers was hit by pitch with the bases full and Saenz, who had the lone hit in the inning on a single, later scored on a wild pitch.

After Wabasso got its first hit of the game in the second inning on a single by Jayden Remiger, Anderson forced a pop out for the second out of the inning. Wabasso made Anderson sweat a bit after that as he issued back-to-back walks to Calvin Hanna and Chase Irlbeck to load the bases. Anderson settled in after a mound visit, though, and got a strikeout to end the scoring threat.

“We always look to lean on Schmitz and Anderson as kind of our 1-2, I shouldn’t say 1-2, it should be 1A, 1B,” Haala said. “They both always go out there and perform for us, but we’ve got a number of other pitchers, too, so we’re going to have to lean on those guys as well going into the Sub-State tournament.

“Obviously Anderson came out today, he strikes guys out, he does that, the only time he gets in trouble is typically when he gets in trouble is when he starts to walk guys. He worked through that today. Pretty typical story for him. But, yeah, looking to lean on those guys, plus we have a number of other pitchers that are very good that are going to play big roles for us in the Sub-State tournament.”

Sleepy Eye got two more runs in the second on an RBI single to left by Austin Uecker and went up 7-0 in the third on an RBI single by Jon Petermann, an RBI groundout by Owen Weiss and a wild pitch that scored Petermann. Schultz and Evers both started the inning by getting hit by pitches, ending Anderson’s day on the mound after two complete innings. He was charged with six earned runs allowed on four hits, two walks and four hit batsmen.

Schultz and Evers were also hit by pitches in their first plate appearances of the day.

Ethan Jenniges entered in relief of Anderson and gave up the hit to Petermann that inning before forcing the groundout and back-to-back pop outs to end the inning.

Wabasso got its lone run of the game in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Irlbeck and trailed 7-1 before Sleepy Eye got another three runs in the bottom of the fourth led by Petermann’s two-run triple to right. Talan Helget then singled to left to score Schmitz and end the game in five innings.

“We came with a lot of energy today, we put the ball in play and put pressure on the other teams and then when they put the ball in play, we made plays.” Haala said. “Our pitchers went out and threw strikes and we just came out ready to compete. We know coming in as the top seed, obviously you’re expected to do some things, but we’ve got to play our best baseball to make sure we stay there.”

Liebl also added a double against Sleepy Eye.