Fairmont won the Class C amateur state baseball title with a 5-4 win over Elrosa on Saturday, September 6 at Memorial Park Stadium in New Prague. The stadium seating was packed, which made for an incredible environment to see a high-stakes amateur baseball game play out.
Elrosa started Norway Lake-Sunburg draftee Jared Cortez on the mound. Cortez, a K-M-S Class of 2024 graduate, is one of the top pitchers at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. This past spring, Cortez earned First Team All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate College postseason honors.
Fairmont went with Dylan Kluis, a draftee from Hadley, as their starter.
For Elrosa Cortez pitched 5 innings with 4 hits, 5 earned runs, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Aiden Mueller entered in relief for the sixth inning, and the B-B-E Class of 2027 student-athlete closed out the game while giving up just one hit, no earned runs, no walks with 4 strikeouts.
The Martins broke into the scoring column with a bang in the second inning, when their No. 9 hitter, player/manager Levi Becker, hit a three-run double to the far right corner of the playing field.
The Saints got one run back in the bottom of the second only to see Fairmont return the favor with one run scored in the top of the third. The score became 5-1 in the top of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, the Saints scratched three runs across but could not get a tying run on board.
The defense for both Elrosa and Fairmont was outstanding all game. The lone error was charged to Elrosa in the top of the 9th, and it ended up being harmless.
Elrosa finished the season 27-8 overall with the most single season wins in program history.
The attached video features Aiden Mueller pitching for Elrosa in the top of the sixth inning.
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