After winning regionals, the Riverland baseball players are headed to Tyler Texas

By Herald staff (Contact) | Austin Daily Herald

Published Monday, May 11, 2009

The Riverland Community College baseball team won its regional tournament at Willmar over the weekend, scoring a 14-3 win in the championship game Saturday against Northland.

Next up for the Blue Devils is a trip to the junior college World Series in Tyler, Texas.

They are scheduled to leave either Wednesday or Thursday and face No. 1 Richland Community College out of Texas Saturday at 9 a.m. Riverland comes into the World Series No. 1.

“It’s a tough draw, but we like to think that Richland got a tough draw too,” said Scott Koenigs, Riverland head coach. “We’re going to go there and try to play as relaxed as we can. We’ve got to come ready to play that first game.”

They were ready this past Saturday.

The Blue Devils (37-8) scored 14 runs on 17 hits and were backed up with a five-inning pitching performance from Ryan Palmer, as well as solid efforts from the Riverland relievers.

At the plate, Zach Vlietstra went two for five; Andy Behnke was three for six; Shawn Pape went three for five with two doubles and five runs batted in; Kyle Starkey was two for two; Derek Emanuel was two for four; while Chris Lindemann was two for three with a home run.

“A lot of different guys are stepping up for us,” Koenigs said. “I’m obviously happy with the outcome.”

Next stop: Tyler, Texas and the eight team, double-elimination World Series.

“I think we can play with anybody there I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” Koenigs said.