MERRILL — The 21-4 Prescott Cardinals knew they had their work cut out for them against a 21-3 Aquinas team at Sectionals in Merrill on June 10, but the team came ready to play.

Senior Dain Pechacek took the mound and held Aquinas scoreless for the first four innings of the game. The Cardinals were also held scoreless through four. They threatened a few times with runners in scoring position, but could not deliver the big blow early.
Aquinas finally opened the scoring in the bottom of the fifth as a base hit, two-out walk and hit by pitch loaded the bases for Jacob Thornton who grounded one in the hole between third base and the shortstop to drive in a pair.

Prescott again got two runners on in the sixth; however, a hard hit ball to second was gobbled up and twisted for a double play.

Prescott’s first true rally came in the seventh. Joaquin Magee chopped one to the shortstop who made a tough throw to first that was bobbled, allowing Magee to reach to lead off the inning. After a bunt for a hit was narrowly gunned out at first and a groundout moved Magee to third, he would score on a two-out wild pitch. Now, the Cardinals had to manufacture a run with two outs and a runner on first. Max Monteith would walk with a full count to push the lead runner to second and bring up Cole Platson. Platson was the hero with a walk-off to win the Regional Final. Platson worked a 3-1 count, slicing what appeared to be a foul chopper. The umpire ruled that the ball hit the runner outside of the batter’s box, making him out to end the game. Many were not a fan of the call, not seeing a point of contact with the runner.

“We had opportunities. We had some guys on second base with less than two outs, but just couldn’t get the big hit,” Head Coach Jeff Ryan said. “Of course, unfortunately, how the game ended at the end. I’m still kind of perplexed about how that game ended. It was a tough way to end what was a really, really good season.”

Prescott went 11-14 in 2022 and 8-14 in 2023. The senior class was a key piece to steering the program back in the right direction, having the program’s biggest turnaround to go 19-6 in 2024 and now hoisting a Regional title and finishing 21-5.

“They’ve been three-year varsity players. When you have that type of experience, it helps those kids that are underclassmen now,” Ryan said. “The fact that they have had so much success over the last couple years really is no accident.”

While they could not quite get it done in the final moments, the resilience that got them to Sectionals showed once more.

“They were incredibly resilient all year, and the team this year and same as last year, during games, always kept a real even keel,” Ryan said. “They weren’t screamers and yellers. We didn’t have boarish dugout behavior that’s becoming so commonplace in high school sports. We had kids who just played the part of a high school baseball team with an enormous amount of professionalism.”

Ryan said it was even more gratifying to see this team win given their respect for the game and their opponents. Aquinas Head Coach Mike Dee has a solidified history, coaching from 1999-2021 at the Division 1 level for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He also spent time as a Minnesota assistant and the head coach for UW-La Crosse. He was a 10-time Horizon League Coach of the Year at UIC. Dee has coached a handful of eventual MLB players including three-time all-star Curtis Granderson.

“We knew going into the game that we were going to have to be well-prepared, and I think we were very well-prepared,” Ryan said. “We were ready, whether it be offensively or defensively, for everything they tried to do.”

They controlled an excellent run game by throwing a runner out and picking off a pair.

Ryan expects this is not the end of Prescott’s strong run despite the phenomenal senior class. There are players waiting in the wings who he expects to break out next year. Although the Middle Border Conference is as strong as Ryan has seen it, he believes his team will be in contention to defend their title.

“We’ve got a really, really strong nucleus of players coming back,” Ryan said. “When you have that type of experience coming back, that’s got to make you excited.”