The Luverne Redbirds amateur baseball team avenged one of its two losses of the season so far by defeating the Milroy Irish 14-2 in seven innings Wednesday, June 29, at Irish Yard in rural Milroy.
With the ten-run rule win, the Redbirds, now 15-2 overall and 13-2 overall in Gopher-First Night league play, moved into a tie with the Irish for the lead in the league.
“The Milroy win was a big win to keep us in contention for the regular season championship as well as seeding for regions,” said Luverne player-manager Brooks Maurer.
“Hopefully we can continue to play as well as we have for the next two weeks and into the playoffs,” Maurer said.
Luverne was scheduled to play in Ruthton Wednesday, July 5, and in Marshall on Friday before hosting the Adrian A's on Saturday and the Heron Lake Lakers on Sunday during a very busy week.
Against the Irish, Declan Beers led the charge for the Redbirds. Beers was four for five at the plate (including a double and a triple), scoring two runs and adding three RBIs.
Derek Lundgren, Jake Haugen, Logan Norman and Ethan Beyer all had two hits during the game.
Haugen scored three runs for the Birds while Lundgren, Skyler Wenninger, Beers, Norman and Beyer plated two each.
Luverne started its scoring with four runs in the second inning when consecutive Redbird batters hit a single, a double and a triple.
Newt Johnson scored first off a single to right field by Norman.
Beyer then hit a two-RBI double to score Haugen and Norman before Lundgren belted a triple to score Beyer.
The Birds added three more runs in the fourth inning when Lundgren hit a two-run home run to left field that also scored Norman. Two batters later, a triple to center field by Beers scored Skyler Wenninger.
After adding one more run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, Luverne led 10-2 entering the top of the seventh stanza.
Back-to-back two-RBI doubles in the top of the seventh inning by the Redbirds moved the score to 14-2.
Beers hit a two-RBI double to score Lundgren and Gaige Nath before a line drive double by Johnson scored Beers.
When the Birds held the Irish scoreless in the bottom of the seventh, the ten-run rule kicked in to end the game.
Haugen pitched the entire game for Luverne. He gave up only two runs off six hits while striking out seven and walking none.
Luverne 0 4 0 3 1 2 4 x x 14
Milroy 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 x x 2
AB R H BI
D Lundgren 4 2 2 3
G Nath 4 1 1 0
S Wenninger 3 2 0 0
D Beers 5 2 4 3
N Johnson 3 1 1 3
J Haugen 3 3 2 0
C Wenninger 4 0 1 0
B Maurer 1 0 0 0
L Norman 3 2 2 2
C Crabtree 1 0 0 0
E Beyer 4 1 2 2