Luverne senior first baseman Ryan Goebel darts past a Marshall defender as the Tiger throws to first base during Thursday's Southwest Conference baseball double-header at Redbird Field. The Cardinals split the twin bill with Marshall.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne and Marshall baseball squads played to a draw when they met for a Southwest Conference double-header at Redbird Field Thursday.
The Tigers rolled to a 13-2 victory to open the set, but the Cards gained some revenge by taking Game 2 by a 13-7 margin.
Luverne sported a 4-4 SWC record after the set.
Marshall 13,
Luverne 2
The Tigers controlled play while rolling to an 11-run victory in Game 1.
Marshall scored runs in five of the game's seven innings and never trailed in the contest.
Marshall scored two runs in the first, second and seventh innings, three in the fourth and four in the fifth.
Luverne was limited to single runs in the first and fifth frames.
The Cardinals cut Marshall's 2-0 lead in half when Ryan Goebel walked and scored on Eric Edstrom's double in the bottom of the first.
Luke Iveland walked and scored LuverneÕs fifth-inning run after Jake Studer grounded out.
Edstrom yielded 11 runs and 14 hits during a six-inning stint as Luverne's starting and losing pitcher. Edstrom was hurt by the long ball as Marshall sent three 0-2 pitches over the fence for homers.
Goebel was touched for two runs while pitching the seventh inning.
Box score AB R H BI
Goebel 2 1 1 0
Studer 1 0 0 1
Uilk 1 0 0 0
Sandbulte 3 0 0 0
Edstrom 3 0 1 1
Schmidt 3 0 1 0
Crable 2 0 0 0
Kreun 2 0 0 0
Kuhlman 2 0 0 0
Pick 1 0 0 0
Iveland 1 0 0 0
Luverne 13,
Marshall 7
Luverne outscored the Tigers 11-2 in the final six innings of Game 2 to gain a split Thursday.
After Marshall took a 5-2 lead in the game's first inning, the Cardinals took control by scoring two runs in the top of the second, three in the third, five in the fifth and one in the seventh to open a 13-5 lead.
The Tigers did score twice in the bottom of the seventh, but it did little to influence the outcome of the game.
Luverne's comeback started in the second inning when Joey Pick reached base on an error and Goebel singled before both runners scored on a throwing error to make it a 5-4 game.
Pick tripled home a run to tie the game at five in the third before Studer chased home two runs with single to give the Cards a 7-2 lead.
Luverne's five-run fifth inning all but ended the game.
Studer singled home a run during the rally, but the key blows were a two-run double by Tony Sandbulte and a two-run homer by Edstrom.
Sandbulte doubled and scored on an error in the top of the seventh to cap the scoring for LHS.
Luverne took a 2-0 lead when Edstrom and Kyle Crable singled home runs in the top of the first before Marshall scored five times in the bottom half of the frame.
Edstrom ended up driving home three runs and had four hits in the game. Studer picked up two hits and three RBIs.
Jesse Kuhlman pitched the first six innings to collect the win. He allowed seven runs (four were earned), three hits and five walks while striking out eight batters. Kyle Kreun pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Box score AB R H BI
Goebel 5 1 1 0
Studer 4 2 2 3
Sandbulte 5 3 3 2
Edstrom 4 1 4 3
Schmidt 4 0 0 0
Crable 4 1 2 1
Kreun 4 0 0 0
Pick 4 3 2 1
Iveland 2 2 0 0