Luverne senior Jake Studer prepares to swing at an offering from St. Cloud Cathedral pitcher Josh Hollenhorst while players from the Crusaders’ bench look on during Thursday’s Minnesota State Class AA Baseball Tournament quarterfinal-round game at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. Cathedral topped the Cardinals 4-2 and went on to win the state championship with two more wins.By John RittenhouseLuverne’s impressive post-season run came to an end with a 0-2 performance during the Minnesota State Class AA Baseball Tournament in St. Cloud Thursday.The Cardinals dropped a two-run decision to St. Cloud Cathedral during the quarterfinals before falling by five runs to La Crescent in the first round of consolation play.Luverne ends the 2003 campaign with a 16-11 record.SCC 4, Luverne 2The Cardinals drew the unenviable task of playing the tournament’s top team when they met the Crusaders in Thursday’s quarterfinals at Joe Faber Field.SSC, the team that beat Luverne 6-4 in the 2001 championship game, bested the Cardinals by two runs in what turned into another state championship for the Crusaders.The 4-2 win over the Cards proved to be the closest test SCC would receive during the tournament as it topped Perham 6-0 in the semifinals and Breck 12-2 in the finals.A strong pitching performance by Josh Hollenhorst and some timely hitting in the game’s early stages by SCC snapped what was a seven-game winning streak for LHS.Hollenhorst pitched all seven innings for the Crusaders, limiting the Cards to four hits and five walks. Hollenhorst fanned three batters. Both runs he was charged with were unearned.Jesse Kuhlman tossed a strong game for Luverne, but control problems haunted the senior in the early stages of the game.After blanking the Crusaders in the first inning and recording the first out of the second frame, Kuhlman hit SCC’s Scott Halupczok before walking Adam Koopmeiners to place runners on first and second.Brian Zawacki then singled home the first run of the game before the next SCC batter popped out to third baseman Adam Kurtz. Crusader Brian Knoblauch singled to right field to chase home the second run of the inning before Mike Schmidt walked to load the bases. The first of two fielding errors in the game by LHS allowed the third run to score before the final batter of the second inning bounced out to Kuhlman.Good fortune shone on SCC when it scored a single run in the bottom of the third to make it 4-0.Hollenhorst started the inning by lifting a fly ball that landed in fair territory by two feet. The ball skipped away from right fielder Nick Uilk, allowing Hollenhorst to stretch the bloop hit into a double.SCC’s courtesy runner for Hollenhorst advanced to third on a fly ball to right field by Halupczok before scoring on a sacrifice fly to left field by Koopmeiners.While SCC was scoring runs in the early innings, the Cardinals were losing offensive opportunities on the base paths. Three LHS runners were picked off at first base in the first four innings of the game.Jake Studer drew a two-out walk in the top of the first and Mark Remme walked with one out in the second, but Hollenhorst, a right-hander, picked them both off at first base. Uilk drew a walk to start the fourth inning. One out later, Koopmeiners, the catcher, threw out a straying Uilk at first base after receiving a pitch from Hollenhorst.Moments after Uilk was tossed out at first, Kurtz lined a double to left field that may have scored Uilk from first.Kuhlman, who limited SCC to a pair of hits after the third inning, walked three batters with two outs in the fifth inning to load the bases. When he recorded his lone strikeout of the game to escape the jam, it gave the Cardinals momentum that led to a two-run top of the sixth.Zach Wysong reached base on an infield single to start the rally, but he was forced out at second base when Joey Pick reached first on a fielder’s choice.Canaan Petersen, the courtesy runner for Pick, moved to second when Uilk reached base on an error. One out later, Kurtz lined his second double of the game to left field to plate Petersen and Uilk. Remme then singled to right field to give LHS runners on first and third, but Remme was forced out at second base when a bouncer off the bat of Aaron Schmidt never left the infield.Luverne was retired in order in the top of the seventh inning, ending the 4-2 game.Kuhlman allowed five hits and five walks during his six-inning stint on the hill. Three of the four runs he surrendered were earned.Box score AB R H BIJo.Pick 3 0 0 0Petersen 0 1 0 0Uilk 2 1 0 0Studer 2 0 0 0Kurtz 3 0 2 2Remme 2 0 1 0Schmidt 3 0 0 0Reisch 2 0 0 0Kuhlman 3 0 0 0Wysong 2 0 1 0Jr.Pick 0 0 0 0La Crescent 7,Luverne 2Luverne’s season came to an end with a five-run loss to the Lancers at Joe Faber Field Thursday evening.The Cardinals led 2-1 after four and one-half innings of play, but La Crescent put together a six-run fifth inning that gave the Lancers a five-run win.La Crescent went on to beat Waconia 8-4 in Friday’s consolation championship game.The pitching of La Crescent’s Brad Bjerk proved to be too much for the Cardinals to overcome Thursday.Bjerk, a hard-throwing right-hander, fanned 11 LHS batters in seven innings. He walked one batter, allowed two hits and one earned run.La Crescent opened the scoring in the home half of the first inning.Bjerk doubled to left field with two outs and scored when Luke Shimshak doubled to left moments later.After being set down in order during the first two innings, Luverne managed to break through and score two runs to take a 2-1 edge in the top of the third.Adam Reisch drew a walk and Kuhlman singled to center field to start the rally. After Wysong laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third, Pick produced an infield chopper that was misplayed by the La Crescent second baseman. Reisch scored on the play, Kuhlman moved to third and Pick gained first base.Uilk then chopped a ball that was fielded by Bjerk. Instead of trying to make a play on Kuhlman, who was racing home from third base, the Lancer pitcher tossed to second base to force out pinch-runner Petersen. When Uilk beat the relay throw to first base, he received credit for the go-ahead RBI.The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth, when La Crescent scored six times to settle the issue.Jared Pick, who limited the Lancers to three hits and one run through four innings as Luverne’s starting pitcher, looked to be in good shape when he induced the first batter in the fifth to fly out to left field.Pick, however, walked the next two batters before giving way on the mound to Kurtz.Kurtz, who notched one win and four saves during the Section 3AA Tournament, ran out of luck during the two-on, one-out situation he inherited against the Lancers.Matt Tuka, the first batter Kurtz faced, lined a single to tie the game at two.Bjerk then fouled out to catcher Joey Pick for the second out of the inning. Shimshak, the next batter, dribbled a bouncer that was fielded by Kurtz, but the Cardinal pitcher couldn’t throw to first base in time to get out Shimshak. Scott Curran, the runner at second base when the play began, kept running when he reached first base and scored the second run of the inning to make it 3-2.La Cresent’s Zach Schoh slapped a run-scoring single to center field that plated Tuka before Kurtz walked Sean Siebold to load the bases. Another walk to Dan Wieser forced home the fourth run of the inning, and an infield error by the Cardinals allowed the final two runs to come home.After scoring two runs in the third, Luverne was limited to a single by Remme the rest of the game.Jared Pick took the loss after allowing three earned runs in four and one-third innings of work on the mound. He surrendered three hits and three walks while fanning two batters.Kurtz allowed four runs (two were earned), three hits and three walks while tossing one and two-thirds innings of relief.Box score AB R H BIJo.Pick 3 0 0 0Petersen 0 0 0 0Uilk 3 0 0 1Boen 0 0 0 0Studer 3 0 0 0Kurtz 3 0 0 0Remme 3 0 1 0Schmidt 3 0 0 0Reisch 1 1 0 0Kuhlman 2 1 1 0Wysong 1 0 0 0Jr.Pick 0 0 0 0Goembel 0 0 0 0
