QUICK FLIP — Fairmont first baseman Jack Kosbab (left) flips a toss to Martins reliever Landen Meyerdirk for a forceout during third-place Region 13C amateur baseball action Saturday at Memorial Park in Hadley. Kosbab went on to deliver the game-winning three-run double in the ninth inning. (Photo by Greg Abel)

HADLEY — Jack Kosbab connected for the “thud” heard throughout the Region 13C amateur baseball ranks on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Park.

Kosbab hammered the go-ahead three-run double off the left-field fence with two outs in the top of Fairmont’s six-run ninth inning before Martins’ teammate Spencer Chirpich hurled a hitless and scoreless bottom half to earn the save.

Kosbab’s clutch late long-ball hitting heroics, Chirpich’s slam-the-door final frame, along with Landen Meyerdirk’s and Brendan Schmidtke’s combined long-relief pitching paced Fairmont’s 11-9 cardiac comeback victory over the Hadley Buttermakers in Game 2 of their best-of-3 third-place series in Hadley.

The Martins (20-7), Region 13’s No. 3 seed, open the Minnesota Class ‘C’ state tournament against Hutchinson at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, in Litchfield.

“I really didn’t think I had hit it (the pitch) that hard, but then I saw it go over his head and heard it hit the fence,” said Kosbab. “At first it looked like he had a chance to maybe catch it.”

“Without a doubt, that’s the best overall team win I’ve ever been a part of as a player,” said Fairmont player/coach Levi Becker, who limited the Buttermakers’ eighth-inning outburst to only two runs by pegging a strike to the plate from left field for a pivotal out. “Every single player on our team contributed in some way to the comeback victory.”

Trailing 7-0 after three complete innings, the regional playoff game had the makings of a 10-run rule early exit for Fairmont.

“We just had to gradually chip away at their (the Buttermakers) lead and maintain a long (offensive) rally, which we finally did in the sixth,” said Chirpich, who utilized his high-velocity fastball to strike out the final two Hadley batters looking at called thirds in the bottom of the ninth.

Schmidtke, who worked 4 2/3 yeoman innings of long relief after taking the mound with only one out in the bottom of the first, drew a walk from the batter’s box to set the table for the Martins’ five-run offensive eruption in the top of the sixth.

Meyerdirk then lined a single to the left-center gap that skipped by Hadley’s outfielder to allow Schmidtke to score and Meyerdirk to reach second base.

Ethan Hurn then lifted a towering sky-high fly ball to deep center field that transformed into a sun-created RBI triple as it fell behind the visually-hindered Buttermaker outfielder.

Chirpich then drilled a single to right to plate Hurn to chisel the Martins’ gap to 7-3 before Becker unloaded an RBI double to the left-center gap to bring home Chirpich. Becker trotted home on Arnaldo Malave’s run-scoring single to left to inch Fairmont within 7-5.

Hadley, however, answered with two runs in the last of the eighth to grab a four-run edge on the scoreboard.

Pinch hitter Eric Wieneke drew a leadoff walk for the hometown team before teammate Abe Paulzine did likewise. After a right-side groundout moved runners to second and third, Joe Larson drilled a two-hop RBI single to a hard-charging Becker in left field. Becker nailed Paulzine at the plate before Derek Kluis followed with an RBI single for Hadley to widen the gap to 9-5.

With one out in the top of the ninth, Cale Steuber legged out an infield hit before taking second on a wild pitch by Hadley’s first reliever Avery Weber.

Weber walked Heriberto Ortiz before Schmidtke legged out an infield hit to the hole at shortstop to jam the base paths.

Meyerdirk hit a comebacker to Weber, who tried to trigger a double play but fired his throw over the middle infielder covering second base, allowing Steuber and Ortiz to score to narrow Fairmont’s gap to 9-7.

Max Zwart relieved Weber on the mound with one out, and looked to pick off Meyerdirk at first base only to see the fleet-footed reliever/outfielder swipe second without drawing a throw.

Hurn walked to load the bases before Schmidtke crossed the plate on Chirpich’s ensuing RBI fielder’s-choice groundout to third base.

Down to their last out, Becker worked out a walk to load the bases before Kosbab swatted the deep drive off the left-field fence for a bases-clearing double to give the Martins their first lead of the day at 11-9.

Chirpich issued a leadoff walk to Zwart before getting a groundout and back-to-back strikeouts looking to seal the comeback victory and earn the save.

Meyerdirk allowed two runs on three hits, struck out two, walked two and hit one batter in 3 solid innings of relief to net the pitching win for Fairmont.

Schmidtke gave up two runs — both unearned — on six hits in 4 2/3 vital innings of relief. Schmidtke struck out one, walked two and plunked one.

Zwart gave up two earned runs on just one hit, walked two and did not record a strikeout in 2/3s of an inning to receive the loss for Hadley.

Zwart topped all batters by going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs to top the Buttermakers’ 10-hit effort, while Larson went 2-for-3 with two walks, was hit once, drove in one run and scored three times.

Hurn went 2-for-5 with a double and triple, collected one RBI and scored twice for Fairmont, while Schmidtke and Meyerdirk each generated two hits from the respective Nos. 8 and 9 spots in the batting order. Schmidtke scored two runs and also drew two walks, while Meyerdirk scored once and reached on an error.

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Fairmont   000 005 006 — 11 12 5

Hadley         511 000 020 —  9 10 3

Arnaldo Malave, Brendan Schmidtke (1), Landen Meyerdirk (6, WP), Spencer Chirpich (9, Sv) and Heriberto Ortiz. Jacob Van Dam, Avery Weber (6), Max Zwart (9, LP) and Brent Hokeness.

LOB–Fairmont 12; Hadley 15. 2B–Fairmont (Ethan Hurn, Levi Becker and Jack Kosbab); Hadley (Evan Lenz and Max Zwart). 3B–Ethan Hurn (FMT). SF–Brent Hokeness (HAD).