The Luverne High School baseball team won its first games of the season this week after coming up short in its first four contests.
After dropping two games to Redwood Valley at home April 19, the Cardinals defeated Pipestone Area 7-4 and swept a doubleheader in Blue Earth 14-3 and 16-6 Saturday.
“It was nice getting our first wins under our belts,” said Phil Paquette, LHS head coach. “You can tell a weight was lifted for the group as a whole. Our pitching staff has continued to do its job, and we were finally able to produce runs for them at the plate.”
LHS is now 3-4 on the season. The Cardinals were scheduled to play games in Windom and Adrian on Tuesday and in Worthington on Thursday before hosting Pipestone Area on Tuesday and St. James on May 5 at Redbird Field.
RWV 6, Luverne 2
Luverne continued to have a hard time producing runs during a 6-2 loss to the Redwood Valley Cardinals at home on Tuesday, April 19.
The home team scored one run in the fourth inning to take the lead before Redwood Valley scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to open up a late-game lead.
Luverne’s fourth inning score came from effective base running by sophomore Jacob Stroh.
After reaching base on a fielder’s choice, Stroh stole second and third bases and scored on a wild pitch all during the next at bat.
LHS scored its other run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Connor Overgaard gained first base after being hit by a pitch. He then stole second base before advancing to third base on a wild pitch. Overgaard scored when Stroh grounded out to third base.
Casey Sehr led the Luverne offense with four hits, including a double in the fifth inning.
Conner Connell pitched the first five innings for Luverne. Connell gave up two hits, no runs, walked none and struck out 13 Redwood Valley batters.
Kaden Anderson was on the mound for the final two innings. He gave up three hits, six runs (one earned), two walks and struck out six.
RWV 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 6
Luverne 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2
AB R H BI
B Ripka 4 0 0 0
K Anderson 4 0 0 0
C. Sehr 4 0 4 0
C Connell 3 0 1 0
R Sneller 4 0 0 0
C Overgaard 2 1 0 0
Z DeBoer 1 0 0 0
J Stroh 3 1 0 1
Carter Sehr 2 0 0 0
K Buss 0 0 0 0
N Cole-Kraty 0 0 0 0
RWV 8, Luverne 5
The Cardinals lost their second game of the day and fourth of the season when Redwood Valley won the second game of a doubleheader in Luverne April 19.
LHS had built a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning before RWV scored eight runs in that frame.
When neither team scored the remainder of the game, Luverne lost 8-5.
The scoring began for the Cardinals when Connell and Braydon Ripka crossed home plate after Will Serie hit a 2-RBI line drive single to left field in the second inning.
In the third inning, Ripka and Nathaniel Cole-Kraty, who was courtesy running for Serie, scored Luverne’s next two runs when Overgaard hit a ground ball and reached on an error by the RWV third baseman.
The Cardinals’ fifth and final run came in the fifth inning when Anderson scored on a sacrifice hit to the pitcher by Ripka.
Sehr, Ripka, Serie and Overgaard had one hit each for Luverne.
Zach DeBoer pitched 4 1/3 innings for the Cards. He gave up five hits, five runs and four walks while striking out six RWV batters.
Ripka pitched in relief for the final 1 2/3 innings. Ripka gave up three hits, three runs and two walks.
Luverne 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 5
RWV 0 0 0 0 8 0 X 8
AB R H BI
J Stroh 2 0 0 0
K Anderson 4 1 0 0
C Sehr 4 0 1 0
C Connell 2 1 0 0
B Ripka 2 2 1 1
W Serie 3 0 1 2
C Overgaard 2 0 1 0
Z DeBoer 2 0 0 0
E Domagala 3 0 0 0
R Sneller 0 0 0 0
N Cole-Kraty 0 1 0 0
Luverne 7, Pipestone 4
LHS won its first baseball game of the season when the Cardinals defeated their rivals from Pipestone Area 7-4 on a beautiful day for baseball at Redbird Field April 21.
The game was tied 1-1 until the bottom of the fourth inning when Luverne added two runs.
The Arrows took the lead when they scored three runs in the top of the fifth, but the Cardinals answered with three more runs in the bottom of the same stanza to take a 6-4 lead.
When the home team scored on more fun in the bottom of the sixth inning, the score was 7-4, which would be the final score.
Ripka and Connell scored two runs each for Luverne.
Serie had two hits in the game, both doubles, and tallied three RBIs to lead the Cardinal offense.
Stroh had two hits and two RBIs. Six Cardinals had hits in the contest.
Sehr pitched five innings for LHS. He struck out eight Arrow batters and gave up eight hits and four runs, three of which were earned.
Stroh was on the mound for the final two innings. He struck out four batters and walked one while giving up no hits and no runs.
Pipestone 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 4
Luverne 0 1 0 2 3 1 x 7
AB R H BI
B Ripka 3 2 1 0
K Anderson 2 1 1 1
C Sehr 3 1 1 0
C Connell 1 2 0 0
C Overgaard 3 1 1 0
W Serie 3 0 2 3
R Sneller 2 0 0 0
J Stroh 3 0 2 2
E Domagala 2 0 0 0
Z DeBoer 1 0 0 0
K Buss 0 0 0 0
N Cole-Kraty 0 0 0 0
P Kroski 0 0 0 0
Luverne 14, BEA 3
The Cardinals found their offense during the first game of a doubleheader in Blue Earth Saturday morning.
After struggling at times to produce runs in the first five games, Luverne outscored the Bucs 14-3 to secure the win and move to 2-4 on the season.
LHS plated at least one run in five of the six innings played before the game ended due to the ten-run rule.
Ripka was the first Luverne batter to come to the plate and he scored the first run. After being hit by a pitch, he advanced to second base on a wild pitch and then scored on an RBI single by Anderson.
The Cards opened up the game in the top of the second inning by scoring four runs. Riley Sneller, Cole-Kraty, DeBoer and Anderson all crossed home plate to bring the score to 5-0.
In the third inning, Luverne increased its lead to 8-0 when Cole-Kraty and Stroh plated runs.
After BEA scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Cardinals exploded for six more runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Sehr and Connell scored before Stroh hit a grand slam, his first varsity homerun, to clear the bases.
“It felt pretty cool to get the ten-run rule and get us out of the game,” Stroh said.
Connell pitched the first four innings. He gave up one hit, no runs, no walks and struck out six BEA batters.
Ripka came in to pitch the final two innings. He gave up three runs, four hits and one walk while striking out two.
Luverne 1 4 2 1 0 6 x 14
BEA 0 0 0 0 3 0 x 3
AB R H BI
B Ripka 4 1 2 3
K Anderson 3 1 1 1
C Sehr 3 1 1 0
C Connell 2 1 0 1
C Overgaard 3 1 1 1
W Serie 2 1 0 0
R Sneller 2 2 1 2
N Cole-Kraty 1 3 0 1
J Stroh 3 2 1 4
Z DeBoer 0 1 0 0
Luverne 16, BEA 6
LHS tallied its second win of the day and third of the year while scoring its most runs of the season to date in the afternoon game in Blue Earth Saturday.
The Cardinals came out on top of the Bucs 16-6 in only five innings due to the ten-run rule.
Anderson pitched the entire game for the victors. He gave up eight hits, six runs and walked four BEA batters while striking out four.
Blue Earth Area took the early lead by scoring twice in the top of the first inning.
Luverne quickly answered, however, scoring seven runs in the second, three in the third, four in the fourth and two in the fifth inning.
Sehr and Ripka led the offense for Luverne with three hits each. Sehr had four RBIs in the game.
DeBoer scored three runs for the Cardinals and Anderson, Sehr, Stroh and Elliot Domagala each scored twice.
Serie had two hits, including a solo homerun, and two RBIs. Ripka and Connell had three RBIs apiece.
BEA 2 0 2 0 2 x x 8
Luverne 0 7 3 4 2 x x 16
AB R H BI
B Ripka 4 1 3 3
K Anderson 3 2 0 0
C Sehr 3 2 3 4
C Connell 3 1 1 3
C Overgaard 4 1 2 1
W Serie 4 1 2 2
R Sneller 3 0 0 0
Z DeBoer 2 3 1 0
J Stroh 2 2 1 1
P Kroski 0 1 0 0
E Domagala 0 2 0 0