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The Bulldogs advanced to the state tournament last week, won two games, and took fifth in Class AA, setting school marks by qualifying for the state tourney in baseball for the first time and then for the highest finish ever in the sport.

But, after losing a hard-fought conference game to Sauk Centre 4-1 on Thursday, May 16, the Bulldogs had a record of 6-11, with only one win in the conference. They defeated Albany the next day for their second conference win, but were still last in the West Central Conference North.

"Who would have thought that we'd finish seventh in the conference and fifth in state," said head coach Brad Skoglund in wonder last week after returning victoriously from the Class AA tournament in St. Cloud.

Part of the Dogs' trouble was the West Central Conference North was loaded this year, with three teams - Melrose, St. Cloud Cathedral, and Sauk Centre - rated in state. But the Dogs' inconsistent lineup might have had more to do with their regular season struggles.

Winning only two conference games was hard on the team, according to Skoglund. "It's been a tough season," he said. "We've had to patch things up so much. During the season, we only had our lineup for two out of the first 20 games for injuries and other things."

In the playoffs, the team finally got to use a set lineup and won nine of its last 11 games, finishing the season 15-13 and fifth in state. "We were able to get all the pieces in place," said Skoglund.

"We finally got our full team," said senior Jeremy Fuchs. "We finally got everyone off the disabled list and the ineligible list. We played like we planned to at the start of the year."

"We should have been doing this all season because we have the potential," agreed sophomore Adam Kampsen. "We finally broke out of our slump and started driving the ball."

Indeed, a key to the Bulldogs' postseason success was their hitting. In ten playoff games, the Bulldogs scored 84 runs, or 8.4 per game. In three games at state, they scored 29 runs, or nearly 10 runs per game.

Senior Wes Lieser attributes the team's hot hitting streak at state to better focus and to using all fields, not always pulling the ball. "The pitching gets a lot better (at state), so you have to work harder," he explained. "You aren't going to face any cake pitchers at state."

The Bulldogs sure made opponents look like cake pitchers at state, though, scoring 29 runs in three games on 36 hits. "There wasn't any bleeders," said Lieser, after the Dogs beat Cathedral 13-5 behind a 16-hit attack. "They were shots. It's fun when everybody hits."

The team's hot hitting at state also impressed Skoglund. "That's the most impressive thing to me was how we hit the ball. One through nine in the order, we smoked it," he said.

The Bulldogs' hot bats prompted Skoglund and assistant coach Dick Realdsen to rethink their strategy about the benefits of being the home or visiting team.

Common baseball strategy says the advantage is to the home team, which always gets the last at bat. But against Waconia in the Section 5AA final and against Jackson County Central and Cathedral at state, the Bulldogs won the coin flip to determine who would be home team and chose to be the visitor so they could bat first. In the three games, the Bulldogs scored in every first inning, scoring nine runs in all. Skoglund said being home team might be overrated, especially since you need to get the same number of outs anyways.

Besides, either way, the Bulldogs felt right at home in St. Cloud, thanks to their familiarity with the baseball parks and to their fans. "We had great fan support. That was nice to see, to be able to look up in the crowd and see all the green," said Skoglund.

The Bulldogs drew around 200 fans per game, having more fans at every game, even against Cathedral, which was playing in its hometown. "The players in the field had to see that, too," said Skoglund. "There were more Paynesville fans than Cathedral fans."

Leading hitters for the Bulldogs at state were junior Josh Kampsen ( 8-13 with four doubles, one homer, and eight runs scored), senior Nic Fuchs (6-11 with five doubles and seven RBIs), Lieser (5-12 with seven RBIs), Adam Kampsen (5-13 with a homer and four RBIs), and junior Josh Krupke (4-11 with a homer and five runs scored).

Fuchs hopes that this year's state run will start a tradition of sending Paynesville teams to state in baseball, like the Bulldogs have in wrestling. "It's a great accomplishment for all of us,"Êhe said. "To say years down the road that we were the first is great."

Being the first Bulldogs baseball team to make it to state and taking fifth will be a good way to remember their senior seasons, agreed Nic's cousin and teammate, senior Jeremy Fuchs. "I won't forget anything about it," he said.

"We grew up together and wanted to make a run," said Nic Fuchs of the team's end-of-the-season hot streak. "A lot of seniors on this team wanted to go out with a win."

They did. In fact, out of conference play, the Bulldogs went 13-3, though they were 2-10 in the WCCN.

"We're playing excellent ball right now. This is the time when you want to be playing excellent ball," said Skoglund.

"We were excited to represent our town in the state tournament for the first time," said Adam Kampsen. "We were hoping to come away with a couple wins, and I'm glad we did."

Winning two games at state, and taking fifth place, justifies the Dogs' advancement to the tournament to any doubters looking at their overall record or their last-place finish in the West Central Conference North, according to Skoglund. "If we'd have played this way in conference, we'd have been tough to beat," he explained.