MANKATO, Minn. – After dropping the opening game of the 2023 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament Thursday, the Yellowjacket baseball team put itself in elimination mode, meaning it needed to win from there on out to keep its season alive.
 
The 'Jackets took care of business against Morris Saturday, but their luck ran out Sunday morning. The magical run for the Yellowjackets came to an end with a 3-2 loss to Crown.
 
After getting the start and going six innings in Friday's win over Morris, Matt Tappe (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) got the start again Sunday for the Yellowjackets, and as he's done all season, he fired a gem. Tappe went the distance and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits. He walked two and struck out six.
 
Crown opened the scoring in the top of the first, manufacturing a run without a hit to make it 1-0.
 
The Yellowjackets came back to tie in the bottom of the third. Noah Dagostino (Andover, Minn./Andover) singled with one out, scoring Jonny Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) to make it a 1-1 game.

Crown regained the lead with a single run in the top of the fourth, and then extended the lead to 3-1 with another run in the top of the fifth.
 
In the bottom of the seventh the Yellowjackets pulled to within one. Payton Steiner (Baraboo, Wis./Baraboo) started the inning with a leadoff single and came around to score when Trey Sybrant (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville Senior) doubled to right center, making it a 3-2 game.
 
The Yellowjackets got the tying run into scoring position in the bottom of the eighth, but weren't able to push him across. Then in the bottom of the ninth, the Yellowjackets again had a threat going. Steiner led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice. He went to third on a groundout. Then, Jonny Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) walked and stole second, putting the game-winning run in scoring position, but Crown was able to snuff out the threat, retiring Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) on a close play at first.
 
Steiner and Sybrant each had two hits, in the game, accounting for half of the Yellowjackets' eight hits in the game.
 
The Yellowjackets end the 2023 season with a record of 21-15. It was the first 20-win season in program history, and marked the first time the Yellowjackets finished a season above .500 since 1975.