Vultures beat Tracy, Adrian; qualify for Sub-State
Senior Legion Southwest Sub-State Tournament
Thursday, July 18 at Luverne
Noon — Wells vs. Springfield
2:30 p.m. — Minneota vs. Heron Lake-Okabena
5 p.m. — Blue Earth vs. Adrian
7:30 p.m. — Luverne vs. Minnesota Lake
Friday, July 19 at Luverne
Noon — Losers top bracket
2:30 p.m. — Losers bottom bracket
5 p.m. — Winners top bracket
7:30 p.m. — Winners lower bracket
Saturday, July 20
Noon — Losers top bracket
2:30 p.m. — Losers Bottom Bracket
5 p.m. — Winners bracket
Friday, July 28
Losers bracket continues
Saturday, July 27
Noon — Championship game
(Second game to follow if necessary)
The Minneota American Legion Vultures rebounded from an opening playoff loss to Luverne, 5-1, to beat Tracy, 11-9 and Adrian 8-7 to advance to the Sub-Section Tournament at Luverne this week.
Minneota will play at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Luverne against Heron Lake.
They were leading Adrian, 3-0 in the third inning when the rains came Saturday. The two teams went back to Luverne on Sunday where Minneota defeated Adrian, 8-7. Luverne had already qualified for the Sub-State Tournament, said Coach Keven Larson.
Opening loss to Luverne ....
Going into the bottom of the fifth, Minneota and Luverne were knotted up at 1-1 in the Sub-Sub Section playoff opener at Luverne.
Vulture pitcher Landon Rolbiecki was matching Luverne's Dave Haugen pitch-for-pitch — when suddenly Rolbiecki began "plunking people."
After a double by Jake Mack, Rolbiecki hit three straight batters to score the go-ahead run — then came up a bases-clearing double to Colby Crabtree for a 5-1 lead.
And that's the way the game ended. Rolbiecki hit six batters total but walked just one and only gave up three hits.
In fact, Minneota out-hit Luverne, 5-3 — but those hit batters added to the Vultures downfall.
Yet, manager Keven Larson was undetered — feeling his team has an excellent chance to come back and become one of the two teams to advance to the sub-sections.
"We have a lot of guys who don't want tomorrow to be their last day," he told his players. "We want to go to the next round so we can play these guys again," said the coach.
There are just four teams in this tournament. Adrian beat Tracy 5-3 in the other first-round game. Luverne will play Adrian at noon Saturday and Minneota plays Tracy at 2:30 p.m.
If the Vultures can beat Tracy, they will play the loser of the Adrian vs. Luverne game to get into the Sub-Sections.
Minneota tied the game at 1-1 on the fifth when Austin Sorensen led off with a booming double, went to third on a single by Tate Walerius and scored when Cole Sanow singled to left field.
But the roof fell in during the bottom of the fifth and the Vultures never got their swing back.
"We hit the ball better than they did," said Coach Larson. "We hit the ball hard and we were not intimidated by Luverne like we were last year."
In addition to their five hits, Minneota hit the ball hard, including some long outfield drives by Walerius, Josh Laleman and Teddy Pesch — but centerfielder Jacob VanTersch ran down two of those drives in deep centerfield and Mark Stennett caught the drive off the bat of Laleman.
The difference, said Coach Larson, "Was, (in the fifth), all of a sudden we couldn't get an out."
Luverne had only three hits, all doubles. Two were by Crabtree, who knocked in four of the five runs.
"We need a win tomorrow," said Coach Larson. "We could play Luverne again," he said. "We just want the change to play again next Thursday."
Next week's tournament will also be played in Luverne.
Luverne 5, Minneota 1
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Thomas Hennen, ss 3 0 0 0; Sam Buysse, cf-p 3 0 0 0; Teddy Pesch, 2b 3 0 0 0; Landon Rolbiecki, p-lf 3 0 1 o; Jaymes Moon, c 3 0 1 0; Austin Sorensen, 1b 3 0 1 1; Ben Skorczewski, cr 0 1 0 0; Tate Walerius, dy 3 0 1 0; Grady Moorse, rf 0 0 0 0; Cole Sanow, lf-cf 3 0 1 1; Josh Laleman, 3b 2 0 0 0. Totals 26 -1 5 -1.
LUVERNE (AB-R-H-RBI) Jake Mack, lf 3 1 1 0; Derek Lundgren, ss 0 1 0 0; Becklin Beers, 3b 3 1 0 0; Jake Haugen, p 2 1 0 1; Isaiah Bartels, 1B 3 1 0 0; Colby Crabtree, c 3 0 2 4; Mark Sterrett, rf 2 0 0 0; Jacob Von Tersch, cf 2 0 0 0; Kabe Wenninger, ph 1 0 0 0; Ethan Beyers, 2b 2 0 0 0; Egan Byan, pr 0 0 0 0; Clint Buss, cr 0 0 0 0. Totals 20 5 3 5.
Score by Innings:
Minneota 000 010 0 — 1 5 1
Luverne 000 140 x — 5 3 1
E-Minneota: Laleman; Luverne: Beyers. LOB-Minneota: 4; Luverne: 7. 2B: Minneota-Sorensen; Luverne: Crabtree 2; Mack.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
Rolbiecki (L) 4.1 5 4 3 1 3
S. Buysse 1.2 0 0 0 1 0
Luverne
Haugen (W) 7 1 1 5 0 6
HP-Londgren 3, Mack, Beers, Haugen (by Rolbiecki). WP-Rolbiecki.
The Vultures road back started with a deficit to Tracy, 9-7.
But they scored one in the fourth and picked up three more in the sixth to score an 11-9 victory.
The rally started on an error by Tracy, then a single by Jaymes Moon and a double by Austin Sorensen. Another error brought in the final run.
Sorensen started but was wild and Teddy Pesch came on in relief to pitch the rest of the way and pick up the win.
Pesch, Jaymes Moon and Sorensen each had three hits and Thomas Hennen added a pair as the Vultures rapped out 13 hits against Tracy pitching.
“This wasn’t a bad game. We played pretty well and really hit the ball,” said Coach Larson.
The win sent Minneota up against Adrian, the loser to Luverne in the semi-finals.
Minneota 11, Tracy 9
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Ben Skorczewski, ss 4 2 1 0; Grady Moorse, 1b 0 0 0 0; Thomas Hennen, ss 5 1 2 1; Sam Buysse, cf 5 1 1 2; Teddy Pesch, 2b 5 2 3 0; James Moon, c 4 3 3 2; Austin Sorensen, 1b 4 1 3 2; Cole Sanow, lf 4 0 0 0; Josh Laleman, 3b 4 0 0 0; Tate Walerius, rf 4 1 2 0. totals 39 11 13 7.
TRACY (AB-R-H-RBI) Jake Tauer, cf 5 3 2 0; Sawyer Otto, c 4 0 1 1; Konnor Zick, ss 3 1 0 0; Jake Byrne, 3b 4 1 2 2; Lucas Gervais, p 4 2 2 0; Caleb Nordsiden, 1b 4 0 2 0; Ryan Fogelson, 2b 4 0 0 0; Tyler Timm, dh 2 1 0 0; John Schmitt, rf 0 0 0 0; Andrew Lavoy, lf 2 1 0 0. Totals 32 9 9 3.
Score by Innings
Minneota 330 103 0 — 11 13 0
Tracy 340 103 0 — 9 9 4
E-Tracy Byrne 2, Nordsiden, Zick. LOB-Minneota 10; Tracy 7. SB-Minneota Pesch 2; Moon; Walerius 2; Tracy Tauer 2; Zick 1; Nordsiden. 2B-Minneota: Sorensen; Tracy: Tauer, Gervais.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
Sorensen 2.2 8 8 5 4 2
Pesch (W) 4.1 1 1 4 1 7
Tracy
Gervais (L) 5.1 11 5 12 1 7
Other 1.2 0 0 1 0 1
HP-Moon (by Gervais). WP-Sorensen 5; Pesch 1.
“We had a 3-0 lead with a couple guys on when it started to rain (on Saturday),” said Coach Larson.
“Grady Moorse was pitching well. He said his arm was OK, but he wasn’t the same,” said the coach.
Minneota went through four pitchers, scored four runs in the sixth inning and held on behind reliever Sam Buysse to take the 8-7 win.
Minneota got sevwen hits, two by Buysse. Sorensen knocked in a pair of runs in the sixth with another of his classic doubles. Buysse and Hennen also knocked in runs during the sixth.
Ben Skorczewski scored two runs after walking twice.
Minneota 8, Adrian 7
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Ben Skorczewski, dh 3 2 1 0; Carter Schuelke, c 0 0 0 0; Thomas Hennen, ss 1 1 0 0; Teddy Pesch, ss 3 1 1 1; Sam Buysse, cf 4 1 2 1; Austin Sorensen, 1b 4 0 1 2; AJ Myhre, 2b 4 1 0 0; Cole Sanow, rf 1 0 1 1; Jaymes Moon, lf 3 1 1 0; Josh Laleman, 3b 2 0 0 0; Grady Moorse, p 3 0 0 0; Tate Walerius, lf 3 1 1 0. Totals 31 8 8 5.
ADRIAN (AB-R-H-RBI) Ian Stamer, ss 3 1 1 0; Noah Reyne, p 4 0 1 0; Lance Luettel, rf 3 3 2 0; Brandon Schnoor, cf 3 1 0 0; Grant Jansma, 1b 2 1 1 2; Marschall Wagner, 3b Ryan W., dh 4 0 2 0; Brady Vorthems, c 0 0 0 0; Nate Rahe, 2b 3 0 0 0; Logan Taylor, lf 1 0 0 0. Totals 27 7 8 3.
Score by Innings:
Minneota 300 014 0 — 8 8 0
Adrian 000 510 1 — 7 7 2
E-Adrian: Stamer 2. LOB-Minneota 11; Adrian 7. SB-Minneota: Myhre, Sanow, Moorse, Laleman, Walerius; Adrian: Stamer, Luettel; Ryan W. 2B-Minneota: Sorensen.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
Moorse 3.2 5 5 4 3 3
Myhre .2 1 1 0 3 1
Pesch .2 0 0 0 0 1
Buysse (W) 2 1 1 3 0 4
Adrian
Reyne (L) 5.1 8 5 6 4 3
Other 1.1 0 0 2 0 1
HP-Hennen, Moorse (by Reyne); Jasma (by Moorse).