Adrian third baseman Dusty Spieker leans down to tag out Luverne straying base runner Kyle Kreun during the fifth inning of MondayÕs baseball game in Adrian. Adrian scored five runs in the fifth to force extra innings before posting an 8-7 victory over the Cardinals.
By John Rittenhouse
A late-inning rally by the Adrian Dragons ended in an 8-7 baseball victory for the Dragons in Adrian Monday.
Luverne sported a 6-1 lead after five and one-half innings of play, but Adrian bounced back to tie the game at six by scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth before winning the contest by outscoring the Cardinals 2-1 in the eighth inning.
Adrian's sixth-inning comeback featured a two-run double by Joe Kruger, a fielder's choice that plated a run by Colt Bullerman and a two-run effort on a ball put in play by Dusty Henning.
After a scoreless seventh inning, Luverne gained a 7-6 edge when Eric Edstrom was hit by a pitch before stealing second base. Luke Iveland then chased Edstrom home with a single.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Henning doubled and tied the game when Derek Vastenhout slapped a single. Vastenhout scored the game-winning run when Levi Bullerman singled moments later.
The game's first four innings were a tight battle as the only run came during the home half of the second inning.
Dragon Pete Hohn walked and scored on a single by Joe Kruger to open the scoring.
Luverne moved in front 6-1 by scoring five times in the fifth inning before adding another counter in the sixth.
Edstrom and Ryan Goebel had RBI singles during the fifth-inning rally. Two more runs scored on a throwing error on a ball put in play by Kyle Kreun, and the final counter scored on a wild pitch.
Aaron Schmidt walked and scored Luverne's sixth-inning run on a wild pitch.
Dusty Spieker pitched one run of scoreless relief to pick up the win for Adrian.
Tannar Heronimus blanked the Cardinals while allowing two hits and recording five strikeouts though four innings. Colt Bullerman relieved Heronimus in the fifth and surrendered six runs in one and one-third innings. Kruger pitched one and two-thirds innings of one-run ball for the winners.
Henning and Levi Bullerman led the 7-7 Dragons by slapping three hits each. Vastenhout and Kruger had two safeties each.
Schmidt made his first varsity start for LHS and limited the Dragons to one run and five hits through five innings. Goebel was touched for five runs in one-third of one inning before giving way to Edstrom, who recorded two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Kreun pitched a scoreless seventh inning, but Iveland yielded two eighth-inning runs to take the loss.
Box score AB R H BI
Studer 5 0 0 0
Schmidt 3 1 1 0
Sandbulte 4 1 2 0
Edstrom 1 2 1 1
Goebel 3 1 2 1
Iveland 5 1 1 1
Kuhlman 4 1 1 0
Kreun 4 0 1 0
Crable 2 0 1 0
Pick 0 0 0 0