The Luverne Redbirds amateur baseball team keeps winning after two road games over the past week, one a hard-fought victory and the other smooth sailing.
The Redbirds, now 8-1 on the season, came back in the final two innings in Milroy July 1 from being down 6-0 to defeat the Irish by one run before cruising to a 13-2, seven-inning victory over the Adrian A’s Sunday.
Luverne returns to Redbird Field Wednesday (July 8) to host the Renner Bullets before traveling to Renner to play the Monarchs Thursday night.
The Redbirds then travel to Hadley to take on the Buttermakers Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
Luverne 7, Milroy Irish 6
Luverne traveled to rural Milroy to play the Irish in the ballpark in the country Wednesday, July 1.
The Irish scored three runs in the first inning, two in the fourth inning and one in the fifth to take a 6-0 lead over Luverne.
Phil Paquette sparked the Redbird comeback when he belted a three-run homerun in the top of the eighth inning.
Luverne held the Irish scoreless in the bottom of the inning to make the score 6-3 Irish going into the final stanza.
Luverne had the top of the order up when the ninth inning began. Derek Lundgren and Logan Norman both reached based with singles to start the inning, but the next two Redbird batters were out.
Luverne was down to its final out and down three when Declan Beers hit a single that scored a run.
Ben Serie then reached base on an error by the Milroy shortstop to load the bases with the tying run at second base, the go-ahead run on first and two outs.
Tyler Reisdorfer came to the plate and hit a two-RBI single that tied the game.
Jake Haugen was up next. He hit the ball about ten feet towards third base and made it to first base, which allowed Serie to score the go-ahead run.
Reisdorfer, who had replaced Jake Haugen on the mound during the fifth inning, gave up no runs in the bottom of the ninth to secure the Redbird victory.
Box Score
Luverne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 7
Milroy 3 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 6
AB R H BI
Lundgren 5 2 2 0
Norman 5 2 3 0
Paquette 5 1 1 3
S. Wenninger 4 0 0 0
Beers 5 1 1 1
Serie 3 1 0 0
Reisdorfer 5 0 2 2
Haugen 5 2 1 2
Haugen 4 0 1 1
C Wenninger 5 0 0 0
Luverne 13, Adrian 2
The Redbirds made the short trip east to Adrian to play the A’s Sunday.
The visitors came out swinging early scoring one run in the first before exploding to score eight runs off of five hits in the second inning.
Adrian got one run back in the third inning, before Luverne scored two more runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings to build a 13-1 lead.
The A’s scored one more run in the bottom of the fifth, but that was not enough to avoid the ten-run rule that ended the game after seven innings.
Declan Beers led the impressive Redbird offense with two homeruns and a double. Beers had three hits, scored three runs and earned four RBIs in the game.
Codie Zeutenhorst also had three hits in the game. He scored two runs and chalked up three RBIs. Logan Norman also scored twice for Luverne.
Derek Lundgren pitched all seven innings for the Redbirds. Lundgren struck out seven Adrian batters and gave up six hits and one walk.
“I thought we had a very strong showing on Sunday,” Beers said. “We showed that from top to bottom we are one of the best teams in the league.”
Beers pointed out that, although pandemic-related schedule changes have impacted the season, he and his teammates are feeling good about where they are mid-way through the summer.
“Hopefully we can use this win to jumpstart our shortened season and we will be firing on all cylinders come playoff time,” Beers said.
Box Score
Luverne 1 8 0 2 2 0 0 13
Adrian 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2
AB R H BI
Lundgren 4 1 2 1
Norman 5 2 2 1
Paquette 4 1 1 1
S. Wenninger 4 1 2 0
Zeutenhorst 5 2 3 3
Beers 5 3 3 4
Serie 5 1 1 0
Haugen 4 1 0 0
Nath 2 1 1 0