A great hitting and pitching performance by No. 1 ranked St. Anthony propelled the Huskies past No. 3 ranked New Ulm 13-1 in five innings on Friday night at Palm Field in St. Anthony.

In a dazzling display of hitting, St. Anthony finished with 15 hits, including a triple, in the game shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule. Huskies second baseman Aiden Kelly, who went 3-for-4 and recorded five RBIs, said his teammates came through in clutch moments.     

“We did great today,” Kelly said. “I got to give it up to my teammates. They hit the ball when we needed to. We put the ball in play, and didn’t strike out very much. We just capitalized, hit when we needed to, and got those clutch hits we needed.”

Kelly credited St. Anthony coach Troy Urdahlfor his impressive play at the plate.

“He changed my stance around a little bit," Kelly said. "I was able to go up there, grab my pitches, and look for a pitch to drive.”

St. Anthony was undefeated heading into Friday but lost to St. Croix Lutheran 7-5 before playing New Ulm. Before the loss to the Crusaders, the Huskies hadn't allowed more than four runs, and they’ve held opponents scoreless seven times. Urdahl said the team’s mentality was a big reason the team performed well against New Ulm.

“They just got done losing a very tough game in the first half of the double header, and they didn’t let that affect them in the second game,” Urdahl said. “That’s a testament to their character and mental strength to be able to come back after a loss, face a very good team, and hit the ball well.”  

Along with the Huskies' solid offensive output, St. Anthony’s starting pitcher Zach Siggelkow had a dominating start. Siggelkow pitched five innings, gave up one run on three hits and struck out six. Before the game he was 4-0 with 30 strikeouts and hadn't allowed a single run. 

“I was just trying to locate my fastball,” Siggelkow said. “I hung a curveball and a guy took it deep to left field, so I was just trying to stick with my curveball and trust my catcher, trust my defense, and the hitting took care of itself, so I had confidence on the mound.”  

Siggelkow, who also leads St. Anthony in RBIs and slugging percentage, said the team was motivated to perform at its highest level.

“We were slow the first game and we really just want to be good,” Siggelkow said. “We came back. Got some hits together. It was sweet.”

The Huskies have been to the state tournament five times, all since 2005, and won the state championship in 2006 and 2008. New Ulm is no stranger to the postseason party either. The Eagles have appeared in the state tournament 19 times, and won the title in 2002 and 2005. Urdahl said this victory doesn’t give the Huskies the upper hand in class 2A.

“Baseball is a funny game,” Urdahl said. “They 10-runned us two years ago when we had a very nice team. We knew we were playing a very good team in New Ulm, and that we had to come back and give it our best effort or we’d be oh-and-two on the day.”

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