Photo by Greg Abel/Fairmont Sentinel Sibley East right fielder Caden Willmsen makes a running and diving catch against Fairmont during their Class AA state quarterfinal baseball game on Tuesday at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud.

ST. CLOUD — One step closer to the Minnesota State High School League Class AA state baseball championship.

Eli Anderson, Jack Kosbab and Zach Jorgensen combined for six hits and all of the No. 1-ranked Fairmont Cardinals’ RBIs to engineer an 8-3 triumph over the unranked Sibley East Wolverines during state quarterfinal action Tuesday at Dick Putz Field.

Fairmont (25-3) advances to face No. 5-seeded Rochester Lourdes (19-4) Wednesday in an 11 a.m. championship semifinal back at Putz Field in St. Cloud. Lourdes downed No. 4-seeded Wadena-Deer Creek, 7-3, during quarterfinal play Tuesday.

Sibley East (17-6) plays Wadena-Deer Creek (23-5) at 10 a.m. Wednesday in a consolation semifinal at Orthopedic Sports Field in Sartell.

“It took us until the sixth inning, but we finally got our offense going,” said Anderson, who drilled one of his two triples to clear the bases for three of Fairmont’s five runs during its last at-bat. “He (Sibley East left-hander Jake Schmidt) kept jamming me with fastballs inside and then worked his offspeed pitches on the outer half.

“He threw me an upper-middle fastball and I resisted and didn’t try to pull it and went back up the middle with it.”

Anderson’s towering three-run triple to straight-away center field plated Lincoln Becker, who had walked; Levi Pooley, who was hit by a Schmidt pitch; and Landen Meyerdirk, who reached on a fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt that generated no outs.

Jorgensen, who went 2 for 4, greeted Sibley East reliever Brody Serbus with a single that brought Anderson home for his second RBI of the state quarterfinal.

Nate Soelter singled before Kosbab drove in Brendan Schmidtke — who was courtesy running for Jorgensen — to widen the Cardinals’ margin to 8-1 after six completed innings. Kosbab, who went 2 for 3, produced his third RBI of the game with his efficient groundout.

The Wolverines, however, did not exit Putz Field without a mini-comeback during the top of the seventh inning. Caden Willmsen lined a leadoff single off of Fairmont right-hander Jacob Crissinger before scoring when Tucker Hendrycks drilled a two-run homer off the facing above the left-field wall to narrow the gap to 8-3.

Crissinger answered with a strong second wind by recording his 10th and 11th strikeouts of the state quarterfinal to seal his complete-game victory. Crissinger allowed three runs on five hits and walked one in seven innings pitched to improve his seasonal record to 9-1.

“Pitching, defense and timely hitting. That’s the formula to our success all season,” said Fairmont head coach Don Waletich.

Ironically, the Cardinals produced its first two runs of the game via the same manner. Anderson reached on an error in the bottom of the first inning, was balked to second base and circled the bases on Kosbab’s clutch RBI single up the middle with two outs for a quick 1-0 lead.

Sibley East knotted the score at 1-all by manufacturing a solo run during the top of the third. Sam Ebert was hit by a pitch before stealing second base. Ebert then crossed the plate on Caleb Pautsch’s RBI single to center.

Jorgensen, however, displayed his strong and accurate arm behind the plate by throwing out Pautsch trying to steal second. Jorgensen also threw out Serbus trying to swipe second during the Wolverines’ sixth at-bat.

Kosbab then gave Fairmont a lead it would not relinquish during the home half of the third. Ironically, Soelter reached on a two-out error, was balked to second base and scored on Kosbab’s clutch RBI single to center.

“With a lefty on the mound, I had to remember to stay on top of the ball and try to drive it to right field or back up the middle,” said Kosbab. “My first at-bat I hit a fastball and the second one was a changeup.”

Anderson later tripled and scored on a Jorgensen RBI single during the last of the fifth to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 3-1.

Pautsch went 2 for 3 to top Sibley East’s five-hit effort, while Serbus reached on a sun-aided double during the top of the fourth.

Schmidt allowed seven runs — five earned — on five hits, struck out four, walked three and plunked one in 5 1/3 innings to absorb the loss for the Wolverines.

Serbus gave up one run on two hits and struck out one without issuing a walk in 2/3 inning of relief for Sibley East.

Joseph Sperry produced both on the mound and inside the batter’s box to fuel Rochester Lourdes’ four-run quarterfinal win over Wadena-Deer Creek.

Sperry went 2 for 3 with a double and a triple to generate a game-best four RBIs for the Eagles, while striking out 11 batters in 5 2/3 innings pitched to net the victory. Sperry allowed two runs on six hits and walked two.

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