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With a sweep of the Milroy Irish in the region championship series, the Luverne Redbirds left little doubt who the best team in 2021 in Region 13C is.
The local amateur baseball team, now 25-5 on the season, entered the region tournament as the No. 1 seed.
The Redbirds proceeded to sweep the Adrian A’s and Hadley Buttermakers in the first two rounds of the tournament without giving up a single run in those four games.
In the championship series played last week, Luverne defeated the Irish 3-2 in 10 innings Wednesday, Aug. 11, and 9-6 Friday to secure the Birds’ first region championship since 2015.
As region champions, Luverne receives a first-round bye in the 48-team 2021 Class C Minnesota State Amateur baseball tournament.
The Milroy Irish and Windom Pirates, who finished second and third respectively, will also represent Region 13C in the state tournament, which is hosted by Waconia, Chaska and Hamburg this year.
The Redbirds’ first game at the single-elimination state tournament will be Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. in Chaska vs. the winner of an Aug. 22 game between the Eagle Lake Expos and Cannon Falls Bears.
Luverne would need to win four consecutive games to reach the Class C championship game to be played at noon on Labor Day in Waconia.
The Redbirds have drafted two additional pitchers for the state tournament.
Gavin Jacobson and Ben Scheevel both play for the Jackson Bulls during the regular season.
Luverne 3, Milroy 2
For the first time since July 14, an opposing team scored a run on the Luverne Redbirds when the Milroy Irish tied the game 2-2 in the seventh inning of the first game of the region championship game Aug. 11.
A walk-off hit to center field by Luverne’s Skyler Wenninger in the bottom of the tenth inning won the game 3-2 for the top-seeded host Redbirds.
Luverne scored first in the bottom of the second inning.
After a walk to Codie Zeutenhorst, a double by Tyler Reisdorfer and a single by Declan Beers loaded the bases, Phil Paquette earned an RBI walk that scored Zeutenhorst.
A lead-off homerun by Beers scored a second run for Luverne in the third inning.
Redbirds pitcher Jake Haugen, who has had an outstanding 2021 season on the mound, retired the Irish side with only three batters per inning in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
A double by an Irish batter in the seventh inning got a runner on base, but Milroy was unable to score the run.
The Redbirds were also unable to score runs in the middle innings.
Luverne left the bases loaded in the fourth inning and two runners on base during both the sixth and seventh frames.
In the top of the eighth inning with two out, Milroy batters earned a walk and hit a single to place runners on first and third bases.
A double hit to left field scored two runs to tie the game.
Brandon Alfson, the Redbirds’ draftee from the Pipestone A’s, then replaced Haugen on the mound. A walk followed by a strikeout ended the inning.
After a scoreless ninth inning, the game moved to extra innings.
Milroy left one runner on base in the top of the tenth frame.
Paquette reached base as the third Redbird batter in the extra inning when he was hit by a pitch.
A single by Newt Johnson put Luverne runners on first and second base with two out when Wenninger came to bat.
When Wenninger hit the ball between the shortstop and second baseman, Paquette scored and Luverne won Game 1 of the series 3-2.
Haugen pitched 7 2/3 innings. He struck out seven batters, issued one walk and gave up four hits and two runs.
Alfson, the winning pitcher, threw 2 1/3 innings, striking out four and giving up one hit, no runs and no walks.
“Jake threw really well for us but started losing control of his slider a little bit,” said Luverne player-manager Brooks Maurer.
“They are a good hitting team and they had been through the order a few times so they were figuring him out,” Maurer said. “It definitely helps to have a guy like Alfson available to come in.”
At the plate, Lundgren led Luverne with three hits. Paquette had two hits and scored one run and added one RBI.
Box Score
Milroy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
Luverne 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3
AB R H BI
Lundgren 6 0 3 0
Paquette 3 1 2 1
Johnson 5 0 1 0
S. Wenninger 3 0 1 1
Beers 5 1 1 1
Serie 5 0 1 0
Haugen 5 0 0 0
Zeutenhorst 4 1 0 0
Reisdorfer 4 1 0 0
Luverne 9, Milroy 6
The Redbirds traveled to Irish Yard, the iconic country ballpark between Milroy and Vesta, Friday night to face the Irish for the fourth time this season.
Milroy won the first two regular season contests between the two teams while Luverne won Game 1 of the best-of-three playoff series.
A Redbird win would clinch a Region 13C championship while a loss would force a Game 3 Sunday in Luverne.
Soon after the sun fully set behind the third base line, Luverne came away with a 9-6 victory and the Region 13C championship.
The Irish started strong on offense in the first inning when the top three batters in the lineup all reached base with singles.
One base runner was out at second base, but a walk to the fourth Milroy batter loaded the bases.
Luverne pitcher Ben Serie struck out the next batter to earn the second out, but the bases remained loaded.
When Serie hit the next batter with the pitch, a run scored.
After a scoreless second inning, Luverne took a brief lead in the top of the third stanza.
Redbirds Kendall Meyer and Paquette both reached base before Skyler Wenninger was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs.
A hard-hit single by Beers then scored Meyer and Paquette, giving Luverne a 2-1 advantage.
Milroy answer by scoring a run in the bottom of the third to again tie the game.
Luverne answered again with two scores in the top of the fourth inning.
Cade Wenninger led off by reaching second base. He scored when Meyer, batting next, also reached second base on a fielding error.
Milroy then intentionally walked Paquette before a sacrifice fly to center field by Johnson scored Meyer.
The 4-2 Luverne lead would not last long as the Irish scored three in the bottom of the fourth to go up 5-4.
The Redbirds again answered in the next inning when Serie belted a solo homerun to tie the game at five.
“I was really happy how we were able to answer each time they scored,” Maurer said.
The score remained tied until the top of the seventh inning when Luverne opened a lead that would hold.
Cade Wenninger scored his second run of the game with an RBI single by Paquette.
With runners on first and second bases, Johnson then received the first of three consecutive walks to Luverne runners that scored two additional Redbird runs.
Milroy scored one additional run in the eighth frame and Paquette scored off a sacrifice hit by Beers in the ninth to cap the score at 9-6.
Lundgren, who came in to relieve Serie after four innings, was the winning pitcher.
Lundgren struck out four, issued five walks and gave up two hits and one run.
“He (Lundgren) was very sharp in relief, giving up only one run in five innings,” Maurer said.
Serie, pitching for the first time in over a month, struck out two, walked two, and gave up six hits and five runs, three of which were earned.
“Ben pitched good for us, too, but we had some errors and didn’t give him as much defensive help as we should have,” Maurer said.
Box Score
Luverne 0 0 2 2 1 0 3 0 1 9
Milroy 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 6
AB R H BI
Lundgren 5 0 0 0
Paquette 4 3 2 1
Johnson 3 0 3 1
S. Wenninger 3 0 0 1
Beers 4 0 1 4
Serie 6 1 2 1
Haugen 4 0 0 0
C. Wenninger 3 2 0 0
Meyer 4 3 2 0