The Luverne Cardinals baseball team improved to 3-0 on the young season by winning a pair of games this past week.
The Cardinals opened the week on Thursday, April 15, with a 3-2 victory over Pipestone Area in Luverne. The next day the Cardinals dismantled the visiting Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers 22-0 in five innings.
LHS 3, PAS 2
Neither team was able to put any runs on the board in the first inning.
The Arrows scored the game’s first run in the top of the second inning. The Cardinals answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
Luverne scored another run in the bottom of the third to claim a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Cardinals scored another run to build a 3-1 lead.
The Arrows made things interesting in the top of the seventh, as they scored a run, but they were unable to get the equalizer.
Connor Overgaard went 2-2 at the plate and drove in a run for the Cardinals.
Connor Connell drove in a run for the Cardinals and went 1-2 at the plate with a walk.
Ethan Beyer collected three hits for the Cardinals and scored a run. Beyer also pitched three innings and recorded a pair of strikeouts.
Casey Sehr pitched four innings for the Cardinals and recorded four strikeouts.
LHS 22, TMB 0
It was all Luverne, all the time on Friday, April 16. The Cardinals’ bats caused the scoreboard at Redbird Field to malfunction on Friday.
The Cardinals scored four runs or more in every inning en route to a 22-0 home victory over the Panthers.
The Cardinals scored four runs in the first inning to take an early 4-0 lead.
With the Panthers only able to muster one hit against the Cardinals, that four-run first inning is all the offense the Cardinals would need to improve to 3-0 on the season.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Cardinals scored six more runs to build a 10-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Cardinals scored four more runs to build a 14-0 lead.
The Cardinals scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to build a commanding 22-0 lead.
Sehr went 3-5 at the plate, with a double. Sehr also drove in a team-high five runs.
Braydon Ripka went 3-4 at the plate with a double. Ripka also drove in four runs.
Beyer went 3-5 at the plate and drove in three runs.
Luke Bosch went 3-4 and drove in a pair of runs.
Cade Wenninger pitched four innings and recorded nine strikeouts.