Blake ace Eric Stolt outdueled DeLaSalle starter Christian Brausen in the Bears' 3-2 win over the Islanders in a Class 2A, Section 4 winner's bracket semifinal on Thursday night at the Northeast Athletic Field in Minneapolis. 

Stolt went the distance for Blake, throwing all seven innings and striking out 12. He threw six shutout innings before allowing the two runs in the seventh.

“He made the pitches when he needed to make the pitches,” Blake coach George Blackwell said about Stolt. “We kept his pitch count down, and I’m just really excited about the win for the kids.”

Stolt said a big part of his success was spotting his pitches.     

“I was really hitting my spots, working in and out, and trying to keep them off balance,” he said. 

Although Stolt had a command performance, he was in some tight spots, especially the seventh inning. 

DeLaSalle second baseman Mike Pucci singled to score catcher Keenan Moore from second. Stolt also gave up an RBI single to Islander third baseman Jake Tank. Stolt shut down the comeback opportunity by ending the inning the way he started, a strike out. 

Throughout all the Bears' success and struggles, Stolt said his spirit never waned.

“I was pretty confident with my defense out there”, Stolt said. “I just had confidence in my team. I knew we could get it done.”       

Brausen went five innings and struck out eight, issuing just one walk. Brausen’s curveball should get a lot of credit for his success. The bender was responsible for four Bears going down looking. 

“I went out and threw strikes and gave my team the best shot to win, and I just went out and did my best and kept throwing strikes,” Brausen said. 

Blake left fielder Stuart Hesdorffer drove in two runs. He said Brausen has impressive stuff.

“He’s got a really good curveball,” Hesdorffer said. “He pitched well, we got some hits. We’re a pretty good hitting team. We got him, but he was good.” 

Brausen said he was impressed with Stolt's performance.

“He was on point today,” Brausen said. “He had his best stuff and was throwing well. I thought he threw a good game.” 

The Bears advance to face top-seeded St. Anthony Village in the winner's bracket finals on Monday. 

“We’ve been flying under the radar for a long, long time,” Blackwell said. “We got some good players out here, but their hungry. All they want to do is play baseball. We practice hard and we work hard, so I’m just excited to be a part of it."

Blake sophomore starting pitcher Eric Stolt tossed a complete-game three-hitter as the No. 3-seeded Bears beat No. 2 seed DeLaSalle 3-2 in a Class 2A, Section 4 winner's bracket semifinal at Northeast Athletic Field in Minneapolis on Thursday night.

Stolt was the backbone for the Bears (15-5), striking out twelve batters and holding DeLaSalle (13-6) without a hit until the fourth inning and scoreless until the seventh.

Islanders ace Christian Brausen, a junior, pitched five innings, gave up one run on six hits and struck out eight.    

Blake scored its first run in the top of the second when junior left fielder Stuart Hesdorffer doubled to the gap in between the center and right field, driving home senior catcher Robert Dworsky.

The Bears would score their second and third runs in the seventh, as Hesdorffer drove home another run. First baseman Will Bean also drove in a run.    

DeLaSalle scored both its runs with a pair of singles in the seventh inning. Sophomore Keenan Moore scored off second baseman Mike Pucci's single. Senior first baseman Ben Suek came home on third baseman Jake Tank's hit.

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