By John RittenhouseThe Luverne Cardinals opened the 2005 baseball season by dropping a 5-4 decision to Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in Tracy Tuesday.Luverne surrendered three runs in the first three innings of the game and was unable to overcome the early deficit.According to LHS coach Mike Wenninger, the game was a typical opener with a lot of mistakes."We gave a lot of things away," he said. "Hopefully, the mistakes are fixable."The Cardinals dug themselves a 3-0 hole before plating an unearned run in the top of the fourth inning.Senior Jared Pick singled and moved to third when Zach Wysong singled. Wysong ended up getting involved in a run-down between first and second base, opening the door for Pick to race home with the team’s first run of the season.T-M-B answered the challenge by scoring once in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 4-1 game, but the Cards scored twice in the top of the fifth to trim the difference to one run at 4-3.Singles by John Tofteland and Dustin Richters set the table for the Cards in the fifth. Tofteland scored when Nath bounced out to third base, but Richters was thrown out at third base as the play progressed. J.T. Bruynes reached base on an error, moved into scoring position when Pick singled and trotted home when Wysong delivered an RBI single.The Panthers scored once in the bottom of the fifth to increase their lead to 5-3 before Luverne capped the scoring by plating a counter in the sixth.Kelsey Petersen reached base on an error, moved to second on a fielder’s choice and scored the final run when Nath singled.Bruynes tossed the first two innings and took the loss after allowing one run. Brad Herman yielded three runs in the next two innings, and Wyatt Cote was charged with one run after tossing one-third of one frame. Pick pitched one and two-thirds scoreless innings.The 0-1 Cardinals host Windom for the Southwest Conference opener Tuesday.Box score AB R H BILundgren 2 0 0 0Bruynes 1 1 0 0Pick 4 1 2 0Wysong 4 0 2 1Herman 3 0 0 0Cote 3 0 1 0Graphenteen 2 0 0 0Petersen 1 1 0 0Tofteland 3 1 1 0Richters 3 0 1 0Nath 3 0 1 0
