They did it the hard way, but the Austin Blue Sox are headed to the Class B amateur state baseball tournament.

The No. 4 seeded Blue Sox knocked off the No. 2 seeded Rochester Royals 4-3 in Rochester Friday and they eliminated the top seeded Mankato Mets 8-5 in Mankato Saturday to move on.

Cody Schact struck out six in nine innings to get the win on Saturday and Brian Voigt struck out 10 in nine innings to get Friday’s win for Austin (13-16 overall).

The 16-team single elimination Class B state tournament will be held Aug. 23 to Sept. 1 in Jordan, Belle Plaine and LeSueur.

Blue Sox 8, Mets 5

Blue Sox pitching: Cody Schact (W) 9 IP, 10 H, 2 BB, 5 R, 2 ER, 6 K

Blue Sox hitting: Jamie Adams, 1-for-4, R; Quinn Yocom, 0-for-4; Brandon Rector, 0-for-3, 2 BBs; Mark Harber, 0-for-3, 2 R, 2 BBs; Josh Kunze, 3-for-4, 2 RBIs; Brian Voigt, 1-for-4, BB, R; Cody Meyer, 2-for-5, triple, 2 RBIs, R; Marcus Stoulil, 1-for-4, RBI, R, 2 BBs; Lukas Anderson, 2-for-5, RBI, 2 R

Blue Sox 4, Royals 3

Blue Sox pitching: Voigt (W) 9 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 10 K

Blue Sox hitting: Adams, 0-for-3, RBI; Rector, 0-for-3, R, HBP; Harber, 0-for-5; Kunze, 2-for-4, double, BB, R; Voigt, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, BB; Meyer, 1-for-5; Stoulil, 2-for-5; Carter Guthmiller, 3-for-4, RBI, R; Anderson, 1-for-5, R