DAILY GLOBE
SPRINGFIELD -- Adrian won itself a trip to the American Legion baseball Second District championship with a 7-4 semifinal win over Luverne on Sunday in Springfield.
Landon Rogers carried Adrian on the mound and at the plate. He struck out six batters and walked two in five and a third innings on the mound. At the plate, he scored three of the team’s seven runs as he singled, walked and hit a two-run fourth-inning home run.
Adrian was patient at the plate, picking up eight walks and Adrian coach Lance Rogers said those extra baserunners were key to picking up the win.
“The key to the game was putting the ball in play and getting runners on base,” Rogers said. “They gave us eight free bases on walks.”
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The semifinal loss doesn’t spell the end for Luverne in the double-elimination tournament, though. They could get a second shot at Adrian in the district finals if they can defeat the winner of the 5 p.m. losers bracket game between Wabasso and Springfield on Friday -- but they’ll have to get the ball over the plate a little better if they’re going to get to the district finals.
“We didn’t throw strikes,” Luverne coach Barry Shelton said. “If we would have thrown strikes, we would have played better. My starting pitcher had seven walks in three and a third innings. When you give up that many walks, you’re not gonna win a ball game, especially against a good team.”
The winner of the matchup between Luverne and Wabasso/Springfield at 7:30 p.m. on Friday will move on to a matchup with Adrian at 2 p.m. on Saturday. If Adrian loses, a second game will be held at 5 p.m.
Shelton thinks Luverne has a good shot to bounce back and beat either Wabasso or Springfield and get their rematch with Adrian.
“We should be able to compete with them,” Shelton said. “Both teams have solid starters for game one and then they fall off a little bit. We have two solid pitchers. We just need to win that first game to get to the championship.”
Adrian defeated Springfield 3-2 on Saturday while Luverne defeated Minnesota Lake 2-1 to advance to the district semifinal.
Springfield defeated Truman 4-2 and Wabasso defeated Minnesota Lake 9-8 on Sunday to move ahead in the losers bracket. The losses on Sunday ended the seasons for Truman and Minnesota Lake.
Truman defeated Heron Lake/Okabena on Saturday 10-0 and Wabasso defeated Blue Earth 3-2.
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