, 
The Luverne Redbirds returned to Redbird Field for their first home game of the season Wednesday, June 17.
The large number of fans who attended the game were reminded of social distancing requirements, and a few adjustments were made on the field, but overall the feel of “town team” baseball returned to Luverne.
“It was just great to be back at Redbird Field,” said Luverne player-manager Brooks Mauer. “We appreciate all the fan support we had.”
Luverne treated the home-opener fans to a 12-1 win over Tracy.
The Redbirds host Ruthton Wednesday (June 24) and Jackson Friday night before playing in Tracy Sunday and in Milroy Wednesday, July 1.
Luverne 12, Tracy 1
Jake Haugen was the offensive spark that led the Redbirds to victory over the Tracy Engineers Wednesday, June 17.
Haugen had three hits, including a double and a three-run homerun, en route to scoring two runs and batting in four runners.
Skyler Wenninger, Declan Beers and Codie Zeutenhorst also scored two runs each in the win.
Although Luverne only had six total hits in the game, walks issued by Tracy pitchers and effective base-running led to 12 Redbird runs.
“We didn’t have a lot of hits, but there were 13 or 14 walks that helped a lot,” Mauer said.
The game was tied at 1-1 at the end of the second inning before Luverne scored three more runs in the third inning.
The Redbirds extended their lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning before adding six more runs in the sixth inning.
Codie Zeutenhorst pitched six full innings for Luverne to earn the win. He struck out six batters, issued one walk and gave up three hits and one run.
Ben Serie took the mound for the final inning, striking out one batter without giving up any walks, hits or runs.
Box score AB H R BI
Nath 3 0 0 0
Beers 3 1 2 1
Wenninger 1 0 2 1
Zeutenhorst 3 0 2 0
Serie 2 0 1 1
Haugen 4 3 2 4
Norman 3 1 1 1
Lundgren 1 1 1 1
Gonzalez 3 0 0 0
Brown 0 0 1 0