The state baseball tournament kicks off Wednesday with four classes taking place across four sites.
Class 4A will be at CHS Field in St. Paul, while the next two Class 3A rounds will be in Jordan. Class 2A and Class A are both in St. Cloud but at separate fields.
Quarterfinals are Wednesday, with semifinals on Thursday. All four classes convene at Target Field on Saturday for the state title rounds.
Here is a look at the East Metro teams in action on the diamond this week.
Class 4A
Cretin-Derham Hall
The perennial power of old is finally back at state, 18 years after its most recent state tournament appearance.
The Raiders (20-4) have a deep pitching staff highlighted by Davon Castro, who is 5-1 with a 1.66 earned run average this season. Their lineup is also flush with weapons, with five guys hitting north of .410 and Davis Fleming (five homers) and Jack Drieman (four) capable of leaving the yard at a moment’s notice.
The tournament’s top seed will meet eighth-seeded Rosemount at 4:30 p.m. at CHS Field.
Rosemount
If you didn’t expect the Irish to be here, well, you’re not alone. Rosemount (13-11) lost six of its first seven games this spring and entered sections two games below .500. But the Irish offense has come alive in the postseason, with Rosemount scoring seven-plus runs in every section bout.
Gavin Hartley and Joseph Timmerman give Rosemount a pitching rotation capable of making noise this week in St. Paul. Hartley is Rosemount’s engine, sporting a 5-1 record on the bump while batting .389 with three homers.
Class 3A
Mahtomedi
The third-seeded Zephyrs (16-7) have become synonymous with the state baseball tournament. With Tuesday’s quarterfinal duel with sixth-seeded Simley at noon in Jordan, Mahtomedi will have appeared in 10 of the past 11 state tournaments.
The Zephyrs have reached the state final five times since 2016; that includes runner-up finishes in each of the past two editions. They’d like to climb the final rung this week. Helping them potentially do so? Ace pitcher Ethan Felling. The senior lefty is a Gophers commit.
Simley
The Spartans (15-7) ride into the state baseball tournament for the first time in program history after not allowing a single run over their final three section tournament games.
Caiden Peters and Wyatt Seelhammer give the Spartans a potent 1-2 punch on the mound, and Brendan Koester is another reliable option on the staff.
All three of those pitchers also hit better than .340 at the dish, but it’s Joe Anderson who sparks the Spartans offense. He has hit nearly .450 this spring.
Class 2A
Concordia Academy
The No. 8 seed in Class 2A faces a tall order against top-seeded Duluth Marshall in its 3:30 p.m. start Wednesday in St. Cloud, but the Beacons aren’t to be counted out. They lost four games in a row in May, with three of the defeats coming by 10-plus runs, yet hit their stride just in time for sections to make a fun run to the state tournament.
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