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The Luverne amateur baseball team won three more games this week to raise its record to 11-1 for the abbreviated 2020 season.
The Redbirds defeated the Renner Bullets July 8 before picking up road wins over the Renner Monarchs July 9 and the Hadley Buttermakers July 11.
Luverne wraps up the regular season with three home games. Hadley comes to Redbird field July 15 before the Sioux Falls Brewers come to town Friday.
Luverne’s final regular season game is Sunday at Redbird field versus Pipestone.
The Redbirds are positioned to receive the top seed and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
Next week’s Star Herald will include information about the Redbirds’ postseason tournament.
Redbirds 8, Bullets 2
Luverne hosted the Renner Bullets, a team made up of players 38 years old and older, for an entertaining contest Wednesday, July 8.
The Redbirds came out on top 8-2 in a game that provided some interesting storylines for the fans in attendance.
Luverne native Derek Ohme was the starting pitcher for the visiting Bullets, his first game at Redbird Field in about 12 years (see related story).
Codie Zeutenhorst officially pitched 8 2/3 innings for the Redbirds. Luverne player Will Brown came in to throw one pitch to his father, Chris Brown, who plays for the Bullets.
“It was cool to have those opportunities, to see Ohme pitch again and for Will to pitch to his dad in a game,” Luverne player-manager Brooks Maurer said.
“They said that’s a memory they’ll have for the rest of their lives,” Maurer said of the Browns.
Zeutenhorst struck out five Renner batters while walking five and giving up four hits.
The game was tied 2-2 when the Redbirds came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Declan Beers led off the decisive seventh inning with a triple.
Beers then started the scoring for Luverne when Jake Haugen produced a double off the Renner pitcher who replaced Ohme on the mound.
Haugen then scored when Derek Lundgren hit a double. Tyler Reisdorfer ran home after a wild pitch to extend the Redbird lead to 5-2. Lundgren then scored off a Logan Norman single.
A Renner error allowed Zeutenhorst to reach first base and Norman to score the seventh run before Phil Paquette scored the eighth and final Redbird run on another wild pitch.
Haugen led Luverne at the plate with two hits, two runs and two RBIs. Haugen hit a solo homerun in the fifth inning and an RBI double in the seventh.
Box Score
Renner 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
Luverne 0 0 0 1 1 0 6 0 8
AB R H BI
Lundgren 4 1 1 1
Norman 4 1 1 1
Paquette 3 1 0 0
S. Wenninger 4 1 1 0
Zeutenhorst 4 0 1 1
Beers 3 1 1 0
Serie 4 0 1 0
Haugen 3 2 2 2
Nath 2 0 1 0
Reisdorfer 1 1 0 0
Gonzalez 1 0 0 0
Maurer 1 0 0 0
Redbirds 20, Monarchs 16
The Luverne Redbirds and Renner Monarchs exploded for 36 total runs in a game played in Renner July 9. Luverne won the game 20-16.
Luverne scored four runs in the first inning and seven more in the second to set the high-scoring pace.
Redbird Will Brown hit a three-run homer in the second inning. Brown totaled three hits and three RBIs and scored twice in the contest. Tyler Reisdorfer also had three hits.
Logan Norman, Phil Paquette, Skyler Wenninger, and Declan Beers all scored three runs and Paquette, Beers, and Ben Serie added three RBIs each for the Redbirds.
Jake Haugen pitched the first five innings for Luverne. Brooks Maurer pitched the remaining four innings.
Box Score
Luverne 4 7 0 0 0 8 1 0 0 20
Renner 1 4 2 1 1 1 1 5 0 16
AB H R BI
Reisdorfer 7 1 3 1
Norman 5 3 1 0
Paquette 4 3 1 3
S. Wenninger 5 3 1 1
Beers 4 3 2 3
Serie 4 2 1 3
Haugen 5 2 0 1
Brown 5 2 3 3
Nath 6 1 2 2
Luverne 10, Hadley 0
Luverne traveled to Hadley Sunday afternoon to take on the Buttermakers in a game scheduled for seven innings.
The visitors made short order of the trip, coming away with a 10-0 win in five innings.
Tyler Reisdorder pitched all five innings for the Redbirds. He struck out five Hadley batters, walked two and gave up only three hits.
Reisdorfer also led Luverne at the plate with three hits, including a double in the fifth inning that scored two runners.
Skyler Wenninger and Declan Beers also had two RBIs. Beers hit a two-run homerun in the first inning.
Wenninger scored three runs while Derek Lundgren, Logan Norman, and Beers each scored twice.
Box Score
Luverne 4 0 2 1 3 10
Hadley 0 0 0 0 0 0
AB R H BI
Lundgren 4 2 2 0
Norman 4 2 1 0
Wenninger 3 3 2 2
Beers 3 2 1 2
Reisdorfer 4 1 3 2
Serie 4 0 2 1
Haugen 3 0 0 0
Nelson 3 0 1 1
Nath 3 0 1 0
When Derek Ohme took the mound as the starting pitcher during a road game July 8, he was also pitching at home.
The 1997 Luverne High School graduate returned to Redbird Field with his Renner Bullets amateur baseball team to face his former team, the Luverne Redbirds.
Ohme, 42, is a pitcher on the first-ever Renner Bullets team. The team is comprised of players who are all 38 and older.
“It’s a blast to play with these guys,” Ohme said. “I’ve never been in a dugout with so many stories. It’s a lot of fun.”
The Bullets are the only 38-and-over team in South Dakota and play in Class B of South Dakota amateur baseball.
“We’re playing against teams with players that are 20 years younger than we are, but we’re usually pretty competitive,” Ohme said, adding that the team includes many former college players and even current college coaches.
“We have a lot less room for error when we’re up against 21-year-olds out there like we were tonight,” he added.
Last week was the first time that Ohme has played in Luverne since about 2008.
“It was a great feeling,” he said, “playing against guys like Phil Paquette was a lot of fun.”
Ohme played baseball at Augustana University in Sioux Falls and for the Luverne Redbirds from 1997 to 2003 before joining the Renner Monarchs.
He played for the Monarchs from 2004 to 2013 and then returned for one more season in 2015.
In all, Ohme has won nine South Dakota amateur baseball state titles with the Monarchs over the years.
Now, he said he hopes to continue his winning ways with the Bullets.
“I would love to get my 10th title with this team,” he said.