Park Baseball beat Hopkins 10-6 to advance to the semi-final June 3. Park is lined up to play Edina to advance to the section final. 

Junior Josh Middleton said his goal going forward into sections is to win it all. 

“Our goal is to go to state,” Middleton said. ”But to do that we have to get through Edina and Wayzata, which will be a tough battle but we can make it happen if we keep playing at this level.”

Junior John Sheehy said his main focus going into this game was showing up ready to play for this big game.

“I’d say the team’s main focus was locking in and taking Hopkins down,” Sheehy said. “We knew they were a tough team and that this would be a big game, but we pulled through.”

Coach Reece Chirboga said he knew the game  would be a tough matchup, but Park did a good job of capitalizing on Hopkins errors, which led to them leaving with the win.

“We knew going into the game they’d be a tough team. They were going to throw everyone at us that they had,” Reece said. “But we knew that they had been sloppy in the past and we want to take advantage of that and a few key errors. They made a few base running mistakes and we took advantage and made the best of it.”

Sheehy said a key factor that led to their win against Hopkins was their pitching and hitting.

“With Andruw Vela on the mound throwing seeds and Josh on the mound for the first three innings they both just really shut them down,” Sheehy said. “Also, we scored every single inning besides the seventh. We just hit and pitched very well.”

Reece said if you aren’t ready to bring your A-game then you won’t get the results you want. He is confident Park can compete with any team.

“If you get one to a game, thinking you’re gonna lose, the game’s already over at that point,” Chirboga said. “We can compete with anyone in the states and we’re here to show it next week when we get Edina.”

Park will have a shot to advance to the section final if they beat Edina at 7 p.m. June 7 at Parade Stadium