The Victoria Vics and Shakopee Indians took victories on Friday night to earn spots and punch their ticket to the 2023 Class ‘B’ State Amateur Baseball Tournament. The Eagan Bandits and Burnsville Bobcats were both eliminated with their losses tonight. The Bobcats had a phenomenal season with an 11-2 regular season record, earning top seed in the Section 3B playoffs. Burnsville beat Chanhassen in the opening round but subsequently lost to Young America (8-1) and their season ended with a 5-3 loss to Victoria.
The Indians narrowly defeated the Bandits 3-2. Shakopee’s Vinny Schleper had given up only one hit through six innings of work. Eagan would get their bats going, eventually tying the game 2-2, but with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Justin Winterfeldt would hit a solo home run to left center, putting the Indians up 3-2. The Bandits would threaten in the top of the ninth with runners on first and second but would come up empty.
This means that the Young America Cardinals, Chaska Cubs, Victoria Vics, and Shakopee Indians will be the four teams representing Section 3B in the Class ‘B’ State Tournament later this month. The final seedings for these four teams will be determined by games that will play out this coming week, starting with Young America at Chaska and Victoria at Shakopee on Sunday, August 6th at 6:00 p.m.