The Red Birds exploded for 15 runs on 11 hits and took advantage of 4 costly Arlington errors to gain a berth in the Central Division Championship Game with Belle Plaine for the second year in a row.

Trailing 2 – 0, the Red Birds plated the first 7 batters in the 4^th inning to oust Arlington A’s starter Scott Dose, (who had beaten the Red Birds 7-0 last Friday night).  The Red Birds sent 11 men to the plate that inning, getting 5 hits, scoring runs on two errant throws by A’s shortstop Brett Pioske, stole 5 bases on catcher Bryce Eggert, and hit two deep sacrifice flies to center and left field.

Arlington came back in the top of the 5^th inning to score 3 runs on 3 singles and a double to make the score 7-5 after five innings.  But starting pitcher, Casey Malmgren slammed the door on the A’s with a 1-2-3 inning in the 6^th. 

In the bottom of the 6^th, leadoff batter, Zach Swenson sent the first pitch from A’s reliever, Dan Chies, over the left field fence for a homerun.  It seemed to soften the A’s a little bit.  With one out, Tom Bergner drew a walk and stole second.  Jeff Pavlovich then singled to center scoring Bergner from second.  Pavlovich then stole second and moved to 3^rd on a sacrifice fly to left by Nate Swenson.  T.J. Gulden then drew a base on balls.  Cary McLaughlin then lined a single to left that scored Pavlovich from 3^rd.  John Gulden then laced a single to left that scored his cousin T.J. from second base with the 4^th run of the inning and the Red Birds had a six run lead at 11 – 5.

Justin Kurth relieved Malmgren in the 7^th inning and opened with a walk to Craig Dose.   Bryce Eggert then launched a fly ball to deep right field that Tony Marengo caught up with to make a great catch at the warning track, and Justin Kurth got Scott Dose to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.  The Dose double play was significant in that he had reached base safely three previous at bats with a two run homerun in the 1st, a single in the 3^rd, and an RBI double in the 5^th inning.

In the bottom of the 7^th inning, Zach Swenson continued his hot hitting and launched a triple to right center.  Tony Marengo lifted a double to right center to score Swenson easily. Tom Bergner then hit a ground ball to 3^rd that was bobbled leaving Marengo at 2^nd and Bergner at 1^st.   Jeff Pavlovich then tagged a fly ball to the left field warning track that skipped off the glove of the left fielder and the runners advanced to load the bases with nobody out.  Nate Swenson then grounded to short for a fielder’s choice at first to score Marengo from third and move the runners up one base.  T.J. Gulden drew an intentional walk to load the bases.   Cary McLaughlin then worked the pitcher for a non-intentional walk to bring home Bergner from 3^rd to make the score 14 – 5.   John Gulden then lifted a fly ball to deep left field for a sacrifice fly and drove in Pavlovich from third with the game-ending run making the score 15-5 (10 run rule after 7 innings to shorten the game).