New Ulm Sports Central - Preserving and Sharing New Ulm Area Sports History

Led by Hanska, the six-team championship field for the Tomahawks League will be squaring off for drafting rights in single games tonight.

Hanska plays host to Sleepy Eye at 8:30 while Essig is at Lamberton and St. James at Stark at 8 p.m. Essig upended Searles 6-5 Tuesday to win the best of three series, St. James edged Leavenworth 8-6 in 11 innings and Stark nosed out Springfield 6-5 in the Tuesday night games.

All six teams have been guaranteed a place in the Region 2C playoffs but positioning for seedings and drafting rights to players within their own divisions are the plums for the single game this evening. Thursday has been saved for the rain date.

Searles scored its 6-5 win over Searles at Springfield with Dusty Fleck giving up 10 hits and striking out eight. Matt Johnson and Frank Forstner (the loser) shared pitching for Searles. Searles was down 5-2 until the seventh and rallied to tie the score. Essig scored the winner in the top of the eighth.

Essig had 14 hits, 12 of them between five players. With three were Ty Sellner, including a double and RBI, and Adam Prochniak. Two each were by Mitch Stueber, with a triple and two RBI; Terry Helget and Larry Haala, both with an RBI also. For Searles Steve Kloeckl (RBI and double) and Kyle Fischer had two each.