Faribault Flames Playing For a State Title

The Faribault Flames defeated the St. Paul Senators 5-4 on Saturday night to remain unbeaten in the state 35 and older players tournament.

The Flames will play at 7:30PM Sunday against St. Patrick for their division state title at Bell Field in Faribault.

There will also be games at 2:30PM and 5PM, but it may not be known who plays in those games until mid-morning Sunday.

Rick Vogel will turn 57 in November and pitched his tail off to get the win. Shane Thom came on to collect a save and the Flames scored all their runs in the fifth inning when  they sent eight men to the plate. Faribault had four of their eight hits in that inning. RBI singles were recorded by Dusty "Fire Chief" (perfect for the Flames) Dienst, Pat Nelson and John Vogt, an RBI double by Kyle "Money" Green and sacrifice fly RBI by Tim "Toolman" Wagner.

Vogel went 6 2/3 innings and tallied four strikeouts and five walks while giving up just three hits. He did get some stellar defense behind him. Dienst made a diving catch to his left at short and Vogt had two long running catches in right. Vogel said it was his longest outing as a member of the Flames.

Vogel had a shutout going into the seventh when he started the inning with a walk, then St. Paul hit a single. On the next play, Vogt got a great jump on a ball hit in foul territory down the right field line and finished a very nice catch. Vogt then had to run in and make another fine catch and it looked like Vogel might be able to complete the shutout. He was clearly tiring though, and walked the next two batters to give the Senators their first run of the game.

Shane Thom came on in relief and walked the first man he faced then the cleanup hitter smacked a two RBI single. Thom struck out the No. 5 hitter in the order to end the game.

Faribault scored five runs on eight hits and had one error, leaving four runners on base, all in scoring position and St. Paul had four runs on four hits with two errors and left six runners on, five of them in scoring position.

Let's pack Bell Field on Sunday night for the final Faribault game at the ballpark this season. Our goal is simply to have fun at the diamond.