MITCHELL — After a low-scoring pitcher’s duel, Garretson is back in the Class B semifinals. 

The Bluejays edged Mount Vernon, 2-1, in a competitive Class B quarterfinal contest on Thursday at Cadwell Park. The game featured outstanding pitching performances, zero errors and seven scoreless innings of baseball. 

“That’s what you want,” Garretson first baseman/pitcher Aaron LaBrie said. “It’s fun to win, but at the end of the day, you just want to play a good game. That was a good game. Had we lost we’d tip our caps. It was a fun game and that’s the kind of baseball you want to play.” 

The teams combined for 16 hits, but runs were at a premium and the score stayed at 2-1 through the final five innings.  

“It’s just good baseball and really good defense,” Mount Vernon designated hitter/manager Deric Denning said. “An amateur baseball game with zero errors is kind of unheard of to be real honest. It was really clean.”

Garretson starter Nick Bonte lasted the first six innings, allowing seven hits, one earned run, walked two batters and struck out four batters on 89 pitches. LaBrie earned the save after striking out six batters and walking two batters in three scoreless relief innings. 

“That was tough and the pitcher was good and they play the game the right way,” LaBrie added. “Their at-bats were not easy. It was not easy to get them out. They were a good team and that’s what you expect this late in the state tournament.”

Mount Vernon starter Blake Moke, a Corsica-Stickney pick-up player, had a complete-game performance. The Horned Frog scattered seven hits, allowed two earned runs, struck out five and walked three on 126 pitches. 

“Blake Moke pitched a heckuva game,” Denning said. “He was really, really good. He gave us everything that we could have asked for. I know it’s not an easy position with a pick-up player. You’ve got a whole town’s hopes and dreams on your shoulders and you are not even from there. So he did a really good job.”

In the third inning, Eric Giblin’s two-out double to left field scored Chase Hetland from second for a 1-0 Mount Vernon lead. In the fourth inning, LaBrie smacked a two-run double to deep left center field for a 2-1 Garretson advantage. 

Garretson used two bang-bang plays at home plate to keep Mount Vernon runs off the board. In the first inning, Denning singled on a line drive to right field and Briggs Havlik was out on a throw by right fielder Jesse Brockhouse at home plate. 

In the sixth inning, Brady Albrecht singled on a line drive to center field, but centerfielder Scott Splett gunned down Bradley Dean on a bang-bang play at home plate. 

“We had our chances and got thrown out at home twice in must-send situations, in my opinion,” Denning said. “It’s just how the game goes sometimes.” 

Dean finished with two hits. Hetland, Eric Giblin, Spencer Neugebauer and Cameron Deinert added hits for Mount Vernon. It wrapped up the season for the Mustangs, who qualified for the Class B quarterfinals for the first time since 1998 and will likely bring back their entire core next season.  

“We are somewhat rare in that we have the same crew back it seems like every year,” Denning said. “If we keep it together, we will hopefully be back here again.” 

Brockhouse, Dustin Steckler and Joey Fitzgerald had two hits apiece for Garretson, which advances to the semifinals for the first time since 2019. The Bluejays will play Alexandria or Lennox in the semifinals on Saturday. 

“It’s a good feeling to get back,” LaBrie said. “Our goal is to win, but we have a really tough opponent regardless of who it is next.”