The Luverne Redbirds played in their 14th overall and fourth-consecutive Class C Minnesota State Baseball Tournament Saturday afternoon in Faribault.
The Redbirds fell to the Buckman Billygoats 4-0 to complete a 29-5 season.
With the win, the Billygoats advance to the final weekend of tournament play to face the Waconia Lakers this Saturday afternoon.
Buckman pitcher Matt Tautges threw a complete game shutout, giving up only five hits, one walk and no runs while striking out five Luverne batters to earn the win.
For the Redbirds, Jake Haugen, Kobe Lovell (a drafted player from the Windom Pirates) and Ben Serie combined efforts on the mound.
Haugen started on the mound and went five innings with three runs (two earned) on four hits, no walks and one strikeout in picking up the loss.
Lovell pitched the next two innings. He allowed one run on four hits, one walk and struck out one.
Serie finished up the last two innings, giving up no hits and no runs while walking one.
After enjoying much success at the plate throughout the season, the Birds had a hard time hitting the ball on Saturday.
Phil Paquette started the offense for Luverne with a single in the first inning and Jake Haugen added a single in the second stanza.
The Billygoats started slowly at the plate, putting up only three batters in each of the first two innings before hitting a double and single and scoring two runs in the third inning.
A lead-off homerun in the fourth brought the Billygoats’ lead to 3-0.
Serie hit the Redbirds’ third single of the game in the bottom of the fourth but was unable to score.
Buckman scored its fourth and final run of the game in the sixth inning after earning a double, a walk and two singles.
Declan Beers and Haugen did reach base in the seventh inning after drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch respectively, but they were unable to score.
Lead-off singles by Derek Lundgren and Beers in the eighth and ninth innings completed the Redbirds’ hits, but when Luverne was unable to plate any runs, the game ended as a 4-0 loss.
“It was a frustrating way to finish the year, but when you look back at the whole summer, it was a very fun summer of baseball," Luverne player-manager Brooks Maurer said.
“Twenty-nine wins is nothing to be ashamed of and back-to-back region championships is also a big accomplishment.”
Buckman 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 4
Luverne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AB R H BI
D Lundgren 4 0 1 0
P Paquette 4 0 1 0
S Wenninger 4 0 0 0
B Serie 4 0 1 0
D Beers 3 0 1 0
N Johnson 4 0 0 0
J Haugen 3 0 1 0
C Wenninger 4 0 0 0
G Nath 3 0 0 0