ST. JAMES - Jackson moved onto the second weekend of the Division 2-District II Tournament with a win Saturday while Luverne and Edgerton saw their seasons come to a close.
Post 130 reached the tournament semifinals with a 6-3 victory over St. James Saturday. There they met up with Wells and fell into the loser’s bracket with a 5-0 loss. Wells earned a chance to play Jackson with a 7-3 triumph over Edgerton in Saturday’s quarterfinals. That put Post 42 in the loser’s bracket where their season ended on a 10-0 loss to Truman. Luverne kept its season alive Saturday with a 5-0 win over Welcome/Sherburn in an elimination game. St. James was able to finish the Cardinals off, however, by beating them 6-0.
Jackson Post 130
Jackson grabbed a quick 2-0 lead against St. James in Saturday’s quarterfinal when Easton Bahr and Ryan Christopher scored in the top of the first.
Two more in the sixth put Post 130 up 4-1, but St. James came back with two in the bottom of the frame. But runs for Christopher and Chris Gumto gave Jackson more than enough insurance to advance into Sunday’s semifinal.
Gumto went 4 2/3 innings on the hill to earn the win. He allowed two hits and struck out two and was also 2-for-3 at the plate with a run and two RBIs. Bahr had a hit and a run with Christopher scoring twice. Ryker VanderWoude added an RBI.
Post 130 ran into a buzzsaw in its semifinal game Sunday evening in the form of Wells pitcher Cody Latusek. He pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout to push Jackson into the loser’s bracket.
Latusek had a perfect game going into the fifth inning when Keegan Klontz finally ripped a one-out single to left. Darius Johnson got all the way to third on an error in the sixth, but 130 was never able to scratch one across.
Scott Christopher took the loss for Jackson, going four innings in the start before giving way to Daulton Mortensen and Klontz. Klontz had his team’s lone hit.
Jackson will try to stave off elimination at 4 p.m. Friday when it takes on the winner of St. James and Truman at 4 p.m. in St. James. A win in that game would set up a rematch against Wells with a trip to state on the line.
R H E
Jackson 200 002 2 - 6 4 1
St. James 000 102 0 - 3 5 3
R H E
Jackson 000 000 0 - 0 1 2
Wells 000 140 x - 5 6 1
Edgerton Post 42
In Saturday’s quarterfinal against Wells, Edgerton fell in a 5-0 hole early and couldn’t climb out.
Post 210 scored two in the first and five in the second to go up big. Edgerton came back with two in the home half of the second, but that was as close as it got.
Luke Nibbelink went five innings and struck out four in the pitching loss for Post 42. Jayden Bloemendaal pitched the last two.
Dayne Niemeyer and Nibbelink had a double each. Pete Kroll had a single and a run with Jace VanderMaten adding a hit.
In Sunday’s elimination game, Truman got hot and Edgerton paid the price.
Post 115 went up 9-0 after the first three innings and allowed Post 42 to crack only two hits as their season came to an end.
It ended a season during which Edgerton made an improbable playoff run. It entered the postseason with a record of 0-7 before winning three straight in sub-districts and the first game of districts.
“It was kind of a tough summer,” Post 42 coach Max Zwart said. “We were dealing with what a lot of teams were in that a lot of times we didn’t have many guys there or guys would just get off work so they maybe weren’t as fired up to play baseball. But once we got to sub-districts, that was really the first time we had everybody here and we got things going. It’s been a fun ride.”
Josh Agresto took the loss for Edgerton with Bloemendaal finishing things out. Wyatt Butson and Dayton VanHulzen had a hit each for Post 42.
R H E
Wells 230 200 0 - 7 8 2
Edgerton 020 010 0 - 3 5 3
R H E
Truman 225 01 - 10 6 0
Edgerton 000 00 - 0 2 0
Luverne Post 123
A loss in Friday’s opener had Luverne in a do-or-die situation Saturday against Welcome/Sherburn.
Nick Overgaard allowed only three hits during a complete game shutout to stave off elimination for Post 123. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, their luck ran out a day later with a 6-0 loss at the hands of St. James.
“Yesterday we played really well,” said Luverne coach Barry Shelton on Sunday night. “We had no errors in both games. We hit the ball but yesterday we just got the big hits when we needed them. Today we left six runners in scoring position so we just couldn’t get the key hits.”
Post 123 was clinging to a 1-0 lead against Wells/Sherburn until a big fifth gave them some breathing room. They plated four runs to put the game away.
Overgaard earned the win, allowing no runs on three hits and striking out nine. Jakob Olson had a big game at the plate with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs.
Like Luverne the day before, St. James hung a 4-spot in the top of the fifth Sunday to put the game all-but out of reach.
Connor Hoffman was stuck with the loss, allowing six earned runs over six innings of work. He struck out seven and walked only two. Hoffman and Connor Sandbulte led the offense with two hits each.
Luverne ends the season with a record of 13-8. This summer marked the first in six years under Shelton that Post 123 hasn’t placed third or better in districts.
“I can’t complain,” Shelton said. “It was still a good season. Anytime you make districts it’s a successful season.”
R H E
Luverne 010 040 0 - 5 5 0
Welcome/Sherburn 000 000 0 - 0 3 2
R H E
St. James 100 041 0 - 6 7 1
