(3) Winona upsets (1) Byron baseball in Section 1AAA Championship

(ABC 6 News) — A year ago, Byron baseball fell short in the Section 1AAA Championship. This year, they aimed for a different result.

Their sole roadblock in the way of a trip to State, the third-seed Winona Winhawks, proved to be hard to beat on Wednesday.

The top-seeded Bears had previously lost to Winona before in the tournament, Byron needing to win twice in one night to head to Chaska for State. Byron jumped to a 6-1 lead going into the 5th inning but the Winhawks began coming back to be down 6-4 in the 7th.

And it was in the 7th that trouble reared its head for the Bears again, Winona’s Marcus Winter knocked in an RBI double to make the score 6-5. That was followed up by Eli Denisen’s go-ahead 2-run RBI double with 2 outs.

Byron’s last hope rested in the bottom of the inning, but despite getting runners on base, it was ultimately not meant to be. Riley Knudson popped out to center field, becoming the final out in an emotional 7-6 defeat to Winona.

The Winhawks advance to the Class AAA Tournament while Byron’s season comes to an end at 20-4.