Esko baseball rolls past Mora to claim first section title since 2000

Thursday night the No. 1 Esko baseball team rolled past No. 8 Mora 16-6 in five innings in the Section 7AA championship game at Wade Stadium to punch their first ticket to state since 2000.

The Eskomos got their bats rolling early leading 6-1 in the first inning, then 14-5 after the fourth. Their 10 inning lead in the fifth enacted the mercy rule.

With the win Esko improves to 23-1 on the season.

“It’s amazing, it’s been a special season being able to share it with my sons and all the kids that we’ve been coaching through little league, and I kind of thought it was going to be different; it was anticlimactic at the end though a little bit,” said head coach Ben Haugen.

Senior Pitcher Ben Haugen added that the team has accomplished a lot this season. “It’s an awesome feeling! As a team, we broke the home run record; I think we broke hits and runs. We’re coming into the state with all the confidence we need, and I think that’s what we need. We know we’re going to be one of the best teams down there, and we just need to keep the confidence rolling in the state tournament.”

The Class AA state baseball quarterfinals and semifinals will be June 13-14 at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud. The championship series will be June 16 at CHS Field in St. Paul.