The Austin Post 1216 VFW baseball team had its season come to an end when it lost a pair of games at the state tournament in Fergus Falls Friday.

Austin lost an elimination game 5-3 to Hibbing after it had lost the first game of the day to Centennial by a score of 10-1.

“If you don’t win the state championship, it’s always going to be tough,” Austin head coach Mark Conner said. “We had a great season. We just came out flat against Centennial and then we couldn’t get the bats going at the right time against Hibbing.”

Austin took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth against Hibbing, but Hibbing took the lead for good when it scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth.

While Austin’s season came to end before it wanted to, the team still made some big strides throughout the summer.

“I told them we use this this season to get better for the next season and ultimately to help Austin High School baseball,” Conner said. “This team has come a long ways since we started the season back in June.”

Centennial 10, Austin 1

Austin pitching: Jack Dankert (L) 3 IP, 3 H, 5 BB, 4 R, 3 K; Luke Hawskhead, 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 R; Riley Wempner, 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 R; Nate Murphy, 1 IP, 1 BB, 0 R, 2 K

Austin hitting: Dankert, 1-for-3; Tony Ciola, 0-for-1, HBP; Wempner, 1-for-2, R; Murphy, 1-for-2; Ross Young, 1-for-2; Jake Lunt, 0-for-1; Hunter Guyette, 2-for-3; Josi Bothun, 0-for-1, BB; Andrew Schumacher, 1-for-1; Pete Conner, 0-for-2; Michael O’Connor, 0-for-1; Hunter Johnson, 0-for-2; Jaxon Bell, 0-for-1; Riley Retterath, 0-for-2; Kadin Kneeskern, 0-for-1; Phillip Zynda, 0-for-1, BB; Tyler Robertson, BB

Hibbing 5, Austin 3

Austin pitching: Lunt (L) 5 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 R, 4 K; Wempner, 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R

Austin hitting: Young, 3-for-3, BB, SB, R; Dankert, 0-for-3, HBP, R; Zynda, 0-for-2, 2 BBs, R; Guyette, 0-for-3; Conner, 1-for-4, RBI; Bothun, 0-for-2, RBI; Wempner, 0-for-1, RBI, SB; O’Connor, 1-for-3, SB; Hawkshead, 2-for-3; Holden Londino-Green, 0-for-1