The Cold Spring Silver Springers advanced to the Class AA state championship game of the 2016 MSMABA State Tournament on Saturday with a 10-4 victory over the #2 seed Minnetonka Lakers at Tiger Field in Belle Plaine.  The offense pounded out 15 hits in the game, the defense was solid, and Joe Kounkel pitched around one bad inning to pick up the complete game victory on the mound.  He allowed four runs on eight hits, walked two, and struck out three.

Scoring Summary:

Cold Spring batted ten men in the top of the first inning to jump out to a 5-0 lead.  Greg Terres singled and then stole second; Greg Bemboom singled; Mike Arnold walked to load the bases; Chad Hess hit a sacrifice fly to score Terres; Todd Geislinger singled home Bemboom; Todd Steil singled to reload the bases; Brent Schloe singled home Arnold; and Todd Van Erp singled home Geislinger and Steil.  Minnetonka rallied, though, with four runs in the bottom of the second inning, all with two outs, to cut the lead to 5-4.  However, the Silvers came back with a run in the top of the fourth inning to extend their lead to 6-4 after Steve Huls walked, Bemboom sacrificed him to second, and Arnold doubled him home.  In the top of the sixth inning, Cold Spring scored four more times to open up a comfortable lead and never looked back.  Bembooom doubled and later went to third on a passed ball; Arnold walked; Hess reached on an infield single that scored Bemboom; Steil singled to fill the bases; Schloe reached on a fielder's choice that forced Arnold at the plate; Van Erp singled home Hess; and Terres singled home Steil and Schloe to make the final score 10-4 in favor of Cold Spring.