The Luverne amateur baseball team took its first step toward returning to the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament this week.
The Redbirds won their first best-of-three playoff series, defeating the Adrian A’s 15-1 Wednesday, July 29, and 9-5 Friday, July 31.
Luverne, the No. 2 seed in the Region 13C tournament, will now play the Hadley Buttermakers, the No. 6 seed, in the final four round (see related story).
The best-of-three series opens in Luverne Wednesday, Aug. 5 at Redbird Field at 7:30 p.m.
Luverne 15, Adrian 1
The Luverne Redbirds came out strong in the first game of the second round of the Region 13C tournament.
The Redbirds, who had earned a bye in the first round and had not played in ten days, defeated the Adrian A’s 15-1 in a seven-inning game played July 29 at Redbird Field.
Phil Paquette scored three runs off two hits and added an RBI for Luverne.
Skyler Wenninger, Declan Beers and Gaige Nath each scored two runs for the home team.
Ben Serie had three hits in the game for the Redbirds, while Paquette, Wenninger, Zeutenhorst and Nath added two hits each.
RBIs were plentiful for Luverne. Wenninger and Zeutenhorst batted in three runs each. Beers and Tyler Reisdorder added two RBIs each, with Reisdorfer recording an RBI double in the sixth inning.
Reisdorder was the starting pitcher for Luverne. He spent five innings on the mound, striking out five A’s batters and giving up two walks, two hits and one run.
Jake Haugen replaced Reisdorfer for the last two innings. Haugen struck out one and gave up no walks, one hit and no runs.
Box score
Adrian 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Luverne 2 4 3 1 4 1 x 15
AB R H BI
Lundgren 3 1 0 1
Norman 4 1 1 0
Paquette 2 3 2 1
S. Wenninger 2 2 2 3
Zeutenhorst 3 1 2 3
Reisdorfer 1 0 1 2
Beers 2 2 1 2
Serie 4 1 3 1
Haugen 3 1 0 0
Nath 3 2 2 1
Nelson 1 0 0 0
Gonzalez 0 1 0 0
Brown 1 0 0 0
Maurer 1 0 0 0
Luverne 9, Adrian 5
Luverne won the best-of-three series and advanced to the final four round of the Region 13C tournament with a 9-5 victory over the Adrian A’s Friday in Adrian.
Adrian jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before Luverne added eight unanswered runs in the next three innings.
Tyler Reisdorfer got the offense going for Luverne with a lead-off double in the second inning, an inning in which the Redbirds scored four runs.
In the third inning, Ben Serie and Jake Haugen had back-to-back RBI doubles to add to Luverne’s growing lead.
“We had a bunch of hits and scored eight runs in the first four innings before they switched pitchers,” said Luverne player-manager Brooks Maurer. “After that we were kind of shut down and only scored one more run the rest of the game.”
The 8-2 lead after four innings was enough though. Adrian scored one more run in each of the fifth and sixth innings, but it wasn’t enough to keep the A’s season alive.
Derek Lundgren led the Luverne offense with four hits, two runs and two RBIs.
“Derek had a real good game,” Maurer said.
Logan Norman and Reisdorfer also scored two runs each for the victors.
Norman, Reisdorfer, Codie Zeutenhorst and Skyler Wenninger each had two hits for Luverne.
Lundgren was the winning pitcher. He pitched five innings, striking out eight Adrian batters and giving up no walks, six hits and four earned runs.
Haugen came to the mound in relief, pitching the final four innings. He struck out four and gave up two walks, one hit and one run.
Box score
Luverne 0 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 9
Adrian 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 5
AB R H BI
Lundgren 5 2 4 2
Norman 5 2 2 1
S. Wenninger 5 0 2 2
Zeutenhorst 5 1 2 0
Beers 4 0 0 1
Reisdorfer 5 2 2 0
Serie 5 1 1 1
Haugen 4 0 1 1
Nath 4 1 1 0
The Luverne Redbirds advanced to the Final Four round of the Region 13C amateur baseball tournament with a two-game sweep of the Adrian A’s.
The second-seeded Redbirds, now 14-2 on the pandemic-shortened season, will play the 8-5 Hadley Buttermakers in the next best-of-three series.
Sixth-seeded Hadley advanced in the tournament with an upset 2-1 series-victory over the No. 3-seeded Windom Pirates.
The Redbirds host the Buttermakers at Redbird Field in Game 1 Wednesday (Aug. 5). The two teams will meet in Hadley Saturday at 2 p.m.
If needed, the third and decisive game will be played in Luverne Sunday at 2 p.m.
The winner of the series will advance to the best-of-three championship series Aug. 12-16 and earn a trip to the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament.
Three teams from the Region 13C tournament will advance to the state tournament.
The loser of the Redbirds-Buttermakers series will play Aug. 12-16 in a best-of-three third place series to determine the final Region 13C team that will compete at the state tournament.
“At this point, we’re guaranteed at least four more games and two more weekends of baseball,” said Brooks Maurer, Luverne player-manager.
“We hope to win the Hadley series to get qualified for state the first try,” he said. “There’s a lot less pressure that way.”
Luverne and Hadley have met just once in the regular season, a 10-0, five-inning Redbirds win July 12 in Hadley.
Maurer said his team is not taking Hadley lightly, despite the results earlier this season.
“It seems like no matter what happens in the regular season, they (Hadley) find ways to win in the playoffs,” Maurer said.
“Overall, their roster is a little more veteran than ours,” the Redbird manager said.
Each team in the Final Four series drafts one pitcher from one of the ten Region 13C teams that has been eliminated. The drafted players can only pitch and may not bat.
Luverne has drafted Pipestone pitcher Brandan Alfson for the series while Hadley drafted Tucker Sorenson of the Adrian A’s.
13C Tournament Results
July 29 – Aug. 2
1. Fairmont vs. 8. Pipestone
Fairmont 12, Pipestone 0 (7 inn.)
Fairmont 2, Pipestone 2
2. Luverne vs. 7 Adrian
Luverne 15, Adrian 1 (7 inn.)
Luverne 9, Adrian 5
3. Windom vs. 6 Hadley
Hadley 5, Windom 2
Windom 14, Hadley 0 (7 inn.)
Hadley 11, Windom 7
4. Milroy Irish vs. 5. Jackson
Milroy 5, Jackson 4
Milroy 9, Jackson 5
13C Tournament Schedule
Final Four Round Aug. 5-9
1. Fairmont vs. 4. Milroy
2. Luverne vs. 6. Hadley