LHS baseball begins tournament play

The Luverne Cardinals baseball team closed out a 13-6 regular season before opening play in the Section 3AA tournament last week.
The Cards bested Murray County Central 5-2 in Slayton Tuesday during their final regular season contest.
Luverne earned the No. 4 seed in the South subsection for the playoffs.
The Cardinals began postseason play by defeating No. 5-seeded Jackson County Central 4-2 in Fairmont Saturday before falling to Fairmont 1-0 in extra innings in Saturday’s second game.
With the loss, LHS moved into the elimination bracket of tournament play and faced Windom Tuesday night at Irish Yard near Milroy after this edition of the Star Herald went to press.
A loss to the Eagles would end the Cardinals’ season, while a win would advance the Cards to continue tournament play tonight (Thursday) at Legion Field in Marshall. 
 
Luverne 5, MCC 2
LHS traveled to Slayton Tuesday, May 24, to play their final regular season baseball game.
The Cardinals came home with a 5-2 win, their 13th of the season.
Riley Sneller led the offense for Luverne, going two for three at the plate and adding one RBI.
Braydon Ripka, Kaden Anderson, Casey Sehr, Connor Connell and Zach DeBoer each scored one run for the Cardinals. Sehr had two RBIs in the contest.
The Cardinals stole nine bases during the game, with Connor Overgaard recording three of those steals.
Anderson pitched the first three innings for the Cards. The senior gave up only two hits and no runs while striking out six and walking none.
Sehr threw the next three innings for LHS. He offered three hits and two runs, but struck out five and walked only one. Connell pitched the final inning, striking out two Rebel batters. 
 
LHS     0 0 1 0 2 0 2   5
MCC    0 0 0 0 0 2 0   2
 
                            AB    R      H  BI
B Ripka               3      1       1   0
K Anderson       4       1       0   0
Casey Sehr       3       1       1   2
C Connell          3       1       0   0
A Ossefoort      0       0       0   0
C Overgaard     3       0       0   0
R Sneller            3       0       2   1
W Serie              2       0       0   0
N Cole-Kraty     1       0       0   0
Carter Sehr       3       0       0   0
J Stroh               0       0       0   1
DeBoer              1       1       1   0
 
Luverne 4, JCC 2
The Cardinals opened Section 3AA play as the No. 4 seed against the No. 5-seeded Jackson County Central Saturday morning in Fairmont.
LHS advanced to play No. 1-seeded Fairmont with a 4-2 victory over the Huskies.
The Cardinals scored first in the game during the bottom of the second inning when a sacrifice fly by Carter Sehr scored Overgaard.
JCC took the lead by scoring two runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Luverne answered by plating three runs in the bottom of sixth inning to take the 4-2 lead.
Anderson and Connell both reached base with singles before Sneller scored Anderson with a line drive single to right field. Will Serie then scored Connell with an RBI-single to center field to take the 3-2 lead.
The Cards scored their fourth and final run when Sneller scored on a passed ball.
Luverne racked up ten hits in the game. Anderson and Sneller were both three for three at the plate.
Anderson was the winning pitcher for the Cardinals. The right-hander pitched five innings, surrendering only four hits and two runs while striking out three and walking one.
Casey Sehr spent the final two innings on the mound. He gave up no hits, no runs, struck out three and walked one. 
 
JCC      0 0 0 0 2 0 0   2
LHS      0 1 0 0 0 3 x   4
 
                           AB  R      H      BI
B Ripka               3       0       0       0
K Anderson       3       1       3       0
Casey Sehr        3       0       1       0
C Connell           3       1       1       0
C Overgaard      3       1       1       0
R Sneller            3       1       3       1
W Serie               2       0       1       1
Carter Sehr        1       0       0       1
J Stroh                1       0       0       0
DeBoer               2       0       0       0
 
Fairmont 1, Luverne 0
It was a low-scoring affair when Luverne faced the No. 1-seeded Fairmont Cardinals in the second playoff game of the day Saturday in Fairmont.
The pitchers’ duel was tied 0-0 after seven and a half innings when Fairmont scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure the walk-off win.
Connell pitched 7 1/3 innings for Luverne. The strong sophomore gave up only four hits and one run while striking out 11 Fairmont batters and walking none.
Casey Sehr came in to pitch the final nine pitches of the game. He gave up one hit and no runs.
Anderson, Casey Sehr and Connell each had one hit in the contest. 
 
Luverne    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0
Fairmont   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   1
 
                           AB  R    H      BI
B Ripka               3       0    0       0
K Anderson       3       0    1       0
Casey Sehr        3       0    1       0
C Connell           2       0    1       0
C Overgaard      3       0    0       0
R Sneller            3       0    0       0
W Serie               3       0    0       0
J Stroh                1       0    0       0
Carter Sehr        3       0    0       0
N Cole-Kraty      2       0    0       0