Wednesday’s Class 4A quarterfinals finale at CHS Field wasn’t scripted by Tigers coach Jon Graff, but it played out just the way Graff hoped it would.

Farmington, making its second straight state tournament appearance, had to wait longer than expected to play, but when the game finally did commence, the Tigers were ready.

They scored five runs on three hits in the bottom of the first inning, got six strong innings from starting pitcher Joe Baldus, tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth and closed out an 8-2 victory over Edina to advance to Thursday’s semifinal, where the No. 4-seeded Tigers will face No. 1 seed Cretin-Derham Hall.

“We got off to a good, quick start and we had Baldus, who’s pitched like that his whole high school career,” Graff said. “He’s a phenomenal pitcher. When we put up five, it felt good, but we knew we didn’t want to stop there.”

They didn’t. The Tigers' superb senior catcher, Marshall Gordon, homered down the left field line in the second inning to make the score 6-0. 

“Marshall is one of those guys who’s not afraid of any moment,” Graff said.

Baldus gave up harmless single runs in the third and fourth innings, but Edina never truly mounted a threat until the seventh.

The Hornets loaded the bases off closer Brodie Gilbert, but he got a pair of strikeouts to quell the uprising.

“We kept tacking on as the game went on,” Graff said. “I’m very pleased how this game went.”

It's over: Farmington takes the final Class 4A game of the day, defeating Edina 8-2.

Farmington adds two without a base hit in the bottom of the sixth, now leads 8-2. Desperation time for Edina.

Edina goes down meekly in the top of the sixth. Hornets trail 6-2 with one  chance left to generate offense.

Four complete. Farmington leads Edina 6-2.

Edina scratches one across, makes the score 6-1 midway through the third inning.

Farmington adds another run on a home run to left by catcher Marshall Gordon. It's 6-0 Tigers in the top of the third.

Tough opening inning for Edina starter Spencer Yeaman. He gets saddled with five runs on just three hits — one of which was a swinging bunt — two walks and an error. Farmington leads 5-0 after one.

Emotion got the better of Cretin-Derham Hall senior Brady Stoeklen during the first of two mammoth fly balls he hit in the Raiders’ 7-5 victory over Rosemount on Wednesday.

Down three in the bottom of the fourth and with a runner on first, Stoeklen crushed a pitch to right. He thought it was out and pumped his arm over his head approaching first base, only to see the ball hit the top of the 15-foot-high right field fence.

Stoeklen hustled into second with a double and the Raiders went on to score four runs in the inning to take a 4-3 lead. Rosemount, the No. 8 seed in Class 4A, scored two in the top of the fifth to retake the lead.

“I pimped it. ... And I never pimp home runs,” he said.

In the bottom of the inning, Stoeklen came up again in a nearly identical situation. He crushed another pitch to right, only this time he waited until it landed in the Home Run Porch for a two-run home run, giving the top-seeded Raiders the lead for good, 6-5.

Did he know that one was gone?

“No. I was speeding out of the box with my head down," he said. "I didn’t want to pimp a double again.”

While Stoeklen was learning restraint on long balls, Cretin-Derham Hall pitchers were battling never-say-die Rosemount. Starting pitcher Blake Bullis gutted his way through four innings, giving up five runs on three hits before giving way to senior Logan Matti.

Matti lives in Rosemount and grew up playing with many of the Irish players. He slammed the door, giving up just one hit in three innings.

“That meant a lot to Logan,” Cretin-Derham Hall coach Buzz Hanahan said. “I went back and forth on whether we should bring him in. He rose to the occasion. We have a motto, 'Dare to be great,' and that’s just what he did. The whole team did. Give credit to Rosemount. They came out swinging.”

Red Lake County rattled off six straight hits in the top of the fifth inning to pull away from fourth-seeded Legacy Christian Academy in the quarterfinal round of Class 1A at Joe Faber Field.

Red Lake County scored in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings  for the 10-0 victory.

Colin Taggart finished the game with four hits in four at-bats. He added three RBIs and a run scored.

Will Gieseke started for the Rebels (23-5) and had seven strikeouts before hitting his pitch limit with two outs in the seventh inning. Ben Gullingsrud struck out the only batter he faced to finish off the victory.

The Lions (15-7) managed just six baserunners with two hits, three hit batters and one Rebel error.