Lakers Ready for Region Playoffs

The Region 3C Minnesota Amateur Baseball playoffs begin Sunday with the Faribault Lakers hosting the Montgomery Mallards.

First pitch is scheduled for 3PM.

The Mallards will come into the game with a lot of confidence after defeating the Lakers 2-0 in their regular season finale. Montgomery swept Webster in the DRS League playoffs by scores of 4-2 and 2-0.

Faribault finished the regular season tied with Montgomery in the DRS League standings and received the No. 4 seed by winning a tiebreaker. The two teams split during the regular season, with Faribault winning in May at Bell Field 6-4 behind Matt Lane on the hill. Montgomery won at home in July 2-0 and Evan Knutson took the tough loss for Faribault.

The Lakers finished second in the DRS League in runs allowed and 10th out of the the 12 teams in runs scored. The Mallards ranked fifth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed.

Montgomery heads into the playoffs with a 10-1 July record after starting the season 2-5. Faribault started the season 6-0 and limped into the playoffs going 1-4 in their final five games.

The good news for the Lakers is they have lost just three games at Bell Field this season while allowing fewer than three runs a game and scoring just under five.

Montgomery is a game under .500 on the road and has allowed an average of just under seven runs a game as the the visiting team while scoring just under six.

You know the saying, "good pitching and defense wins championships." The Lakers hope to ride that formula to their third straight state tournament berth.

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All other Region 3C games have a 2PM. first pitch Sunday.

• New Market hosts St. Benedict
• Shakopee is at Prior Lake
• St. Patrick hosts Union Hill

Winners play Tuesday at the high seed and the winners of those games are heading to state.

First-round losers play Wednesday and must win two games to gain a state berth, so you can see why staying in the winner's bracket is the way to go.