By John RittenhouseThe Hills Thunder opened the 2003 Gopher League Playoffs by shocking the Luverne Redbirds Wednesday, July 16, in Luverne.Hills had never beaten Luverne since joining the amateur baseball ranks in the late 1990s, but that changed at Redbird Field last week.Chad Rauk tossed nine strong innings on the mound and Eric and Scott Harnack and Matt Funke drove in three runs each to lead the Thunder to a 13-4 victory.Hills assumed control of the game by scoring two runs in the first and second innings to open a 4-0 lead.Jarud Lang opened the game with a double and scored the first run when Eric Harnack singled. Harnack scored on a sacrifice fly by Funke to make it 2-0.Cade Lang and Scott Harnack singled before scoring on a two-run double by Eric Harnack in the second as Hills doubled its lead to 4-0.Luverne cut the lead in half (4-2) when Brian Weber reached base, Micky Sehr singled before both runners scored in the bottom of the second, but Hills put the game away by scoring three runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth to gain an 11-2 cushion.Scott Harnack doubled home a pair of runs and Eric Harnack singled home another during a three-run fourth inning.Cade Lang doubled home one run, Funke received an RBI for a fielder’s choice, Eric Harnack reached base on an error and scored and Scott Harnack walked and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.Luverne scored single runs in the seventh and ninth innings, while Hills countered with single runs in the eighth and ninth frames.Wade Jellema received an RBI for a fielder’s choice in the eighth and Funke singled home a run in the ninth for Hills. Mike Wenninger scored on an error in the seventh and Ben Winkels singled home a run in the ninth for Luverne.Rauk limited the Redbirds to five hits and five walks while striking out five batters during his nine-inning stint on the mound.Derek Ohme took the loss for Luverne, allowing seven earned runs and nine hits in three and one-third innings.Terry Eernisse worked the next four and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs (one was earned) and seven hits. Isaac Schmidt pitched one inning of one-run, one-hit ball.Hills box score AB R H BIJ.Lang 5 2 2 0E.Harnack 4 2 3 3S.Harnack 4 4 2 3Sammons 3 0 1 0Top 0 0 0 0Funke 5 1 1 3Van Maanen 5 0 1 0Jellema 4 0 1 1C.Lang 5 3 3 1Rauk 5 0 2 0Forshey 0 0 0 0C.Harnack 0 0 0 0Krenz 0 0 0 0Luverne box score AB R H BIOhme 4 0 1 0Edstrom 5 0 0 0Wenninger 3 1 0 0Shelton 1 0 0 0Weber 3 1 0 0Iveland 1 1 1 0M.Sehr 3 1 1 0Jarchow 1 0 0 0Winkels 4 0 1 1Reisch 4 0 0 0Sandublte 2 0 0 0Fisher 2 0 0 0Eernisse 2 0 1 0Schmidt 0 0 0 0
