-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Hayden Derrig of St. Edmond slides around North Union during 1A substate on Tuesday at Rogers Park

As far as Mike Szalat was concerned, there was no better way to finish off Tuesday night’s district win for his St. Edmond baseball team.

Playing with a heavy heart hours after his grandfather passed away, senior Hayden Derrig delivered the final blow to North Union, launching a ball deep to center that scored Ethan Swisher to give the Gaels a 16-6 win in five innings at Rogers Park.

The game marked the final time Derrig and classmate JT Laufersweiler would play on the home turf as St. Edmond (9-13 overall) now travels to Algona to play Bishop Garrigan (23-5) Saturday night in the Class 1A, District 6 championship.

“Just an incredible moment for Hayden,” an emotional Szalat said. “And what a special memory for both he and JT to do this here.”

Back-to-back six-run innings in the second and third gave the Gaels what seemed like a comfortable lead until the Warriors (10-12) roared back with six straight runs of their own.

Jack McElroy earned the win, going four-plus before giving way to Laufersweiler, who recorded the final six outs. McElroy also helped his own cause with two hits and a pair of RBI.

“Jack really gutted it out even though he didn’t have his best stuff,” Szalat said. “That was big for us and for him. And JT came in and was able to give us everything he had as well.”

At the plate, all nine St. Edmond batters reached base, working a collective 10 walks while earning four more free passes on hit batters. Kade Schlegel was 4-for-4 with five RBI, Laufersweiler scored three times and Ethan Swisher reached four times by walk while scoring three bases, stealing two and driving in one.

Derrig reached three times, drove in two and scored twice, Max Webster had a double and scored twice, Grant Galles drove in two, Griffin Laufersweiler had two runs and an RBI and Koleman Hanson had a run and drove in another with a steal.

“We had a lot of guys really step up,” Szalat said. “It was great to see Kade have a big night at the plate along with throwing out a runner and Ethan was really smart up there.

“I’m just so happy for these kids.”

For North Union, Max Merrill had two hits and scored twice while Brennan Bollinger drove in a pair.

Bishop Garrigan advanced with a 7-3 win over West Bend-Mallard. Earlier this year, the Golden Bears posted a 15-0 victory vs. St. Edmond in Algona.

ST. EDMOND 16, NORTH UNION 6 (5 inn.)

North Union 000 42 — 6 6 3

St. Edmond 166 03 — 16 6 0

WP–Jack McElroy (2-3, 4+ IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 K, 5 BB). LP–Greyson Colegrove (0-1, 1+ IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 0 K, 3 BB).

2B–SE: Max Webster. RBI–NU: Danyal Fothergill, Drew Henderson, Landon Hagedorn, Brennan Bollinger (2); SE: Hayden Derrig (2), Grant Galles (2), Kade Schlegel (5), Jack McElroy (2), Ethan Swisher, Griffin Laufersweiler. SB–NU: Cole Nicoson (2), Greyson Colegrove, Danyal Fothergill; SE: Koleman Hanson, Hayden Derrig, JT Laufersweiler, Ethan Swisher (2).