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| Joe Melles had five hits on the day. |
The Birds claimed a 12-10 win over Oakdale before dropping a 12-11 decision to Wayzata to finish round-robin play in the tournament with a 1-3 record.
In Saturday's opener, John Backes collected three hits and two RBI and allowed just one run in five innings of relief work to earn the win against the Mavericks, who used 10 hits, nine of which were singles, to score nine runs off Chester Bird starter Scott Quinby in the first two innings.
The Birds opened the game with a three-run first inning as Marcus Barone doubled to lead off the game and, one out later, scored on a Jimmy Heck single. Gabe MacDonald followed with an RBI double and, with two out, Backes drove in MacDonald with another double.
Chester Bird did not score again until the fourth inning when it got two runs from the bottom of its order as Backes, batting sixth, got a one-out single and Matt Ambre followed by drawing a walk. Marshall Hoemke then single home Backes and Ambre raced home when Robby Sutherland reached on a fielder's choice which forced out Hoemke at second base.
The Birds finally tied the game in the fifth inning as Keaton Studsrud singled to open the inning, Back-to-back walks to Heck and MacDonald loaded the bases and Joe Melles singled home a run. A sacrifice fly by Backes drove in the second run of the inning and, with two out, Hoemke and Sutherland collected back-to-back RBI singles.
The game was decided in the seventh inning when Melles and Backes opened the inning with singles before Ambre reached on a fielder's choice, forcing out Melles at third base. Hoemke then hit into a fielder's choice but an errant throw to second allow Ambre to advance safely and, one out later, with the bases loaded, Barone tripled to drive in three runs.
Oakdale managed a run in the bottom of the seventh, using a pair of hits and a wild pitch, before Backes got a called third strike on Nick Schmidt to end the game.
In his five innings of work, Backes allowed one earned run on five hits while walking three and striking out six.
In addition to Backes' three-hit performance, Barone also had three hits, including a double and a triple, and drove in four runs.
In the finale of the day, The Birds took an 8-0 lead after their first two at bats but a nine-run fifth inning by the Trojans turned the game around.
Back-to-back one-out doubles by Studsrud and Heck produced the game's first run and Gabe MacDonald followed with a two-run home run. Joe Melles then reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it a 4-0 game.
In the second inning, Chester Bird put together a two-out rally as Heck singled with two out and MacDonald reached second base on a throwing error. Melles plated both runners with a single and, after back-to-back singles by Backes and Ambre, the latter of which scored Melles, Wayzata went to the bullpen for Sam Sorenson.
Hoemke greeted him by reaching on an infield single and Backes scored the eighth run of the game when the throw to first was errant.
A five-walk second-inning spelled the end of Hoemke's first start for The Birds as he allowed three runs.
Joe Melles came on in relief to start the third and pitched two scoreless innings before tiring in the fifth inning. He was charged with six runs in that frame before giving way to MacDonald, who made his first pitching appearance in nearly a year. He was tagged for three more runs before working a 1-2-3 sixth inning on five pitches.
Chester Bird rallied in the seventh off Wayzata ace Ryan Poppitz, was was looking to close out the win. Walks to Barone and MacDonald, and a two-out RBI single by Melles, put the tying run in scoring position before Poppitz closed out the game by inducing Backes to ground out.
The Birds' 16-hit attack featured five players with muli-hit games. Barone collected three more hits as did Melles, who drove in three runs and scored twice.
Chester Bird will play in Sunday's first semifinal game, facing Tri-City Red at 11:30 a.m. at Hopkins High School. The winner will move on to the 4:30 p.m. championship game to face either Excelsior or Wayzata.
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