The Blue Earth Pirates won two games last weekend and sailed into the State Baseball Tournament set for Gaylord/Arlington.

The Pirates downed Morristown 8-1 on Saturday, Aug. 15, then defeated Lonsdale 12-2 on Sunday, Aug. 16. Both games were played in Montgomery.

The two wins give the local ball team a 33-5 record for the 2009 season.

“Defeating Morristown got us into the state,” Pirates Coach Todd Schmidtke says. “But after Lonsdale defeated Morristown 2-1 in 10 innings, we had to play Lonsdale to see which team would be our region’s top seed, and which would be second.”

The Pirates got the top seed and will now face Glencoe, at Gaylord, on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 7:30 p.m., to open up their state play.

If they win, they will face either Howard Lake or Forest Lake this Friday, Aug .28, at 8:30 p.m. in Arlington.

Winning that game will put them into a 6 p.m. game on Friday, Sept. 4. Losing it will put them into an 8:30 p.m. game that same night.

Against Morristown last week, the Pirates got a comfortable 3-0 lead after three innings, then exploded for five more runs in the seventh.

Morristown’s single run came in the seventh.

Cody Sukalski had the hot bat for the Pirates, going 4 for 5 at the plate including a home run in the first inning and two doubles.

Todd Rasmussen added a home run in the third, and was 2 for 5 batting. T.J. Schmidtke was also 2 for 5.

In all, the Pirates cranked out 13 hits.

Lee Hodges went all nine innings for the Blue Earth team, giving up six hits and striking out five.

The Pirates out-hit Lonsdale 16-3 on Sunday, on their way to the 12-2 victory.

Garrett Anderson pitched the first 3 1/3 innings, giving up one run on no hits. He struck out six and walked eight.

Sukalski pitched the next 3 2/3 innings and also gave up one run, on three hits.

Justin Schaible led the hitting for the Pirates, going 4 for 5 at the plate, including two doubles.

Both pitchers, Anderson and Sukalski, also hit two-baggers. Aaron Wendt got just one hit, but it was a home run.

The Pirates led 4-1 after the first two innings. They added another three in the fifth, four in the sixth and one in the seventh.

“We are excited to be back in the state tourney,” Schmidtke says.