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The Luverne Redbirds opened the 2020 Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament with a win Saturday.
Luverne defeated the Mora Blue Devils 5-3 at Riverside Park in Springfield.
With the win, the Redbirds advance to the second round of the state tournament and will face the Young America Cardinals Sunday at 2 p.m. in Springfield (see related story).
Luverne player-manager Brooks Maurer said he was pleased with the team’s effort.
“I thought we hit their pitcher really well. Even though we scored five runs, it seemed like more,” he said.
“There were plenty of times when we smoked the ball right to someone; it could have been eight runs or more in my mind.”
Luverne was the visiting team for the contest.
After both teams left runners on base without scoring in the first inning, Luverne plated three runs in the top of the second inning.
Tyler Reisdorfer started the Redbird offense in the inning with a single to the outfield.
The next batter, Codie Zeutenhorst, hit a single and Reisdorfer was out at second base.
Zeutenhorst then advanced to second when Gaige Nath hit a perfectly placed bunt and reached first base.
With two outs and two runners on base, Derek Lundgren stepped to the plate and crushed a stand-up double that scored Zeutenhorst and Nath.
Logan Norman then hit a single that scored Lundgren from second base. Norman advanced to second on a throwing error by the Mora pitcher.
The Redbirds added one additional run in each of the third and fourth innings.
Declan Beers blasted a triple to the fence in the third inning. A single up the middle by Ben Serie then scored Beers.
In the fourth inning, Zeutenhorst hit a single and Nath reached base on a walk before a sacrifice bunt by Lundgren advanced the runners.
A sacrifice RBI by Norman then scored Zeutenhorst for the fifth and final Redbird run of the game.
Mora scored one run in the fifth inning and Luverne held a 5-1 lead until the bottom of the eighth inning.
Brandon Alfson, the drafted pitcher from the Pipestone A’s, completed seven innings on the mound for Luverne.
Alfson struck out four Blue Devils and gave up no walks, three hits and one unearned run.
He was replaced by Reisdorfer, who pitched the final two innings for Luverne.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Mora’s first two batters reached base with a single and a walk.
A hard-hit RBI single by the next batter scored Mora’s second run of the contest.
The next batter struck out, but a wild pitch then scored another Blue Devil from third base to make the score 5-3 with one out.
Mora then loaded the bases after a walk and a hit-by-pitch. With the bases full and only one out, Reisdorfer struck out the next two batters to end the inning and preserve the Redbird lead.
“Reisdorfer started the inning a little shaky – which is unusual – but he came up big with two strike-outs with the bases loaded,” Maurer said. “That was huge.”
Reisdorfer struck out five total and gave up two walks, one hit, two runs and hit two batters.
In the ninth inning, Luverne sent only three batters to the plate and the side was retired with three straight outs.
Mora, needing two runs to tie and three runs for a walk-off win, was down to its final inning.
The first Mora batter was out at first base and the second reached base when hit by a pitch.
Reisdorfer then struck out the final two batters to end the game with a 5-3 Luverne win.
Box score
Luverne 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
Mora 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 3
AB R H BI
Lundgren 4 1 1 2
Norman 4 0 0 1
Paquette 4 0 0 0
S. Wenninger 3 0 0 0
Beers 4 1 1 0
Serie 4 0 2 1
Reisdorfer 3 0 0 0
Nelson 1 0 0 0
Zeutenhorst 4 2 2 0
Nath 3 1 1 0