The Luverne Junior Legion baseball team is now 11-3 on the 2021 season.
The team, comprised of 16 baseball players who have recently finished ninth and 10th grades, began the season by hosting the Buffalo Days tournament June 4 and have been busy ever since.
Jared Pick is in his first year of coaching the team, replacing Mike Wenninger after serving as Wenninger’s assistant last summer.
“Our season has been going well,” Pick said. “The team is off to a good start.”
The Junior Legion team went 3-1 this week, including a 2-1 performance at the New Ulm Junior Classic Tournament over the weekend.
In New Ulm, Luverne defeated Hutchinson 15-0 and Excelsior 3-2 Friday before losing to Omaha Gross 11-2 Saturday. Rain then ended the tournament before its scheduled conclusion.
Luverne then traveled to Tracy Monday night and came home with an 11-7 extra-inning win.
The Junior Legion team hosted New Ulm Gold Tuesday (June 29) and travels to Pipestone Thursday (July 1).
Luverne 15, Hutchinson 0
Luverne opened the New Ulm tournament Friday by defeating Hutchinson 15-0 in five innings.
Connor Connell pitched a no-hitter, striking out 10 Hutchinson batters while pitching the entire game.
Connell led Luverne at the plate as well by scoring three runs off of two hits.
Kaden Anderson scored two runs off of three hits. Elliot Domagala and Kai Buss also plated two runs each for Luverne.
Box Score
Hutchinson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luverne 3 9 2 1 1 X 15
AB R H
Hein 1 1 0
Anderson 3 2 3
Serie 3 0 0
DeBoer 2 1 1
Connell 3 3 2
Sneller 2 1 1
Stroh 2 1 0
Domagala 0 2 0
Buss 3 2 1
Sudenga 1 1 0
Kroski 1 0 0
Jurrens 1 0 0
Halverson 0 1 0
Kinsinger 1 0 0
Luverne 3, Excelsior 2
In its second tournament game of the day in New Ulm Friday, Luverne Junior Legion defeated Excelsior 3-2.
The game was scoreless through five and a half innings before Jacob Stroh hit a double in the bottom of the sixth that scored two runs for Luverne.
The team then added one more run in the sixth inning to take a 3-0 lead. Excelsior scored two runs in the top of the seventh but it wasn’t enough.
Anderson, Connell and Riley Sneller each plated a run for Luverne.
Stroh also pitched the first 6 1/3 innings for Luverne before Austin Ossefoort came to the mound to get the last two outs.
Box Score
Excelsior 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Luverne 0 0 0 0 0 0 x 3
AB R H BI
Hein 1 0 0 0
Anderson 2 1 0 0
Serie 1 0 0 0
DeBoer 3 0 0 0
Conell 3 1 1 0
Sneller 3 1 1 0
Stroh 1 0 0 2
Ossefoort 2 0 0 0
Buss 2 0 0 0
Omaha 11, Luverne 2
The Luverne Junior Legion team fell 11-2 to a team from Omaha Saturday in New Ulm.
Luverne scored the first run of the game in the second inning and each team added one more run in the third. Omaha added a run in the fourth to tie the game 2-2.
Omaha then opened up the game by scoring eight runs in the fifth inning and one more in the sixth inning to take the 11-2 victory.
Zach DeBoer pitched the first five innings for Luverne. Ossefoort came to the mound in relief for the last two innings.
Box Score
Omaha 0 0 1 1 8 1 0 11
Luverne 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2
AB R H BI
Hein 2 1 1 0
Anderson 3 0 0 0
Serie 3 0 0 0
DeBoer 2 0 1 1
Connell 1 1 0 0
Sneller 2 0 0 0
Stroh 1 0 0 0
Halverson 1 0 0 0
Domagala 2 0 0 0
Dammann 1 0 0 0
Kroski 1 0 0 0
Sudenga 1 0 0 0
Buss 1 0 0 0
Kinsinger 1 0 0 0
Eidem 1 0 0 0
Luverne 11, Tracy 7
Luverne needed one extra inning to defeat Tracy 11-7 in Junior Legion baseball Monday night.
The Cardinals entered what should have been the final frame of a seven-inning contest with a 5-3 lead.
Luverne scored one more run in the top of the seventh to stretch the lead to 6-3 before Tracy scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game and cause extra innings.
Andy Halverson and Kaleb Hein led off the eighth inning with walks before Stroh hit a single that scored Halverson and Hein.
Will Serie then earned a walk, and a single by Connell scored Stroh and Serie.
Connell then stole second base, and a fielding error by the Tracy player allowed Connell to score Luverne’s fifth run of the extra inning.
When Tracy was only able to score one run in the bottom of the eighth, the game ended with an 11-7 Luverne victory.
“We’re playing pretty good ball,” said Pick, “and each game we’re getting a little better.”
Box Score
Luverne 0 0 2 3 0 0 1 5 11
Tracy 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 1 7
AB R H
Hein 2 2 1
Stroh 3 1 2
Serie 3 2 2
Connell 3 2 2
Kinsinger 1 0 0
DeBoer 4 1 1
Sneller 5 1 2
Sudenga 1 0 0
Dammann 2 0 0
Kroski 4 1 0
Jurrens 2 0 0
Halverson 1 1 0