By John RittenhouseIn what has become a spring ritual at Adrian High School, the Dragon baseball team earned a berth in the state tournament by winning the Section 3A championship Thursday in Windom.It will be Adrian’s third trip to state in the last four years.The Dragons, who entered play in the double-elimination event as the tournament’s lone undefeated team, needed to play a pair of games against Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin to secure its title.The Wolverines posted a six-run win over the Dragons in the first game. Adrian countered with a two-run victory in the championship game, giving the Dragons their section title.Adrian opens the Minnesota State Class A Baseball Tournament today in Jordan. The Dragons play Chisholm at 12:30 p.m. at the Mini Met.Adrian 2, ML-B-O 0An outstanding pitching performance by sophomore Will Lutmer carried the Dragons to victory in the section title game Thursday in Windom.Lutmer tossed a two-hit shutout, walking three batters and striking out three.After being blanked through the first four innings, Lutmer’s teammates gave him all the offensive support he needed by scoring single runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings.Adrian’s Cody Kontz drew a one-out walk in the fifth before moving to second when Nick Weidert was hit by a pitch. The bases were loaded when Brandon Diekmann drew a walk one out later, and Kontz scored from third base on a wild pitch.Joel Hoffman drew a one-out walk in the sixth before advancing to second base on a passed ball. Kontz chased Hoffman home with the second run of the game with a sharp single to left field.Levi Bullerman led the Dragons with two hits in the contest.ML-B-O 8, Adrian 2The Wolverines forced a championship game by defeating the Dragons by six runs during Thursday’s first game in Windom.AHS led 2-0 after one inning of play, but ML-B-O outscored the Dragons 8-0 the rest of the way to win handily.The Wolverines plated single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to gain a 3-2 advantage. ML-B-O put the game away with a four-run fifth inning before adding another run in the seventh.Weidert reached base on an error and Bullerman singled to ignite Adrian’s two-run rally in the first. Both runners eventually scored on errors.Brandon Diekmann yielded six runs (two were earned) during the first four and two-thirds innings and took the loss for AHS.
