Luverne's Tim Boen picks himself up after sliding safely into third base during Monday’s 5-3 VFW baseball win over Pipestone at Redbird Field.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne VFW baseball team surpassed the .500 mark when it posted a pair of league wins since last Thursday.
Luverne downed Edgerton by four runs on the road Thursday before nipping Pipestone by two runs at Redbird Field Monday.
The 6-5 Cardinals played four games at the Worthington Tournament over the weekend before playing a league game in Worthington Monday.
Luverne 5, Pipestone 3
The Cardinals scored four runs in the first two innings and pitcher Jared Pick made them stand up during Monday’s game in Luverne.
Luverne scored three times in the first inning and once in the second to gain a quick, 4-0 advantage. Pick protected the lead by pitching seven innings of six-hit, two-earned run ball. He fanned nine Pipestone batters.
Pick singled and Tim Boen walked to start a two-out rally for Luverne in the first. Zach Wysong singled home one run, Brad Herman singled home another and the final run scored on a wild pitch.
Andy Stegemann singled and scored on Rob Fodness' fielder's choice to make it a 4-0 game in the second.
Pipestone scored one run in the top of the third and twice in the seventh to make the game close.
John Tofteland walked and scored on Mark Remme’s sacrifice fly in the fourth to cap the scoring for Luverne.
Box score AB R H BI
Remme 3 0 1 1
Fodness 3 0 0 1
Pick 3 1 1 0
Boen 2 1 0 0
Wysong 3 1 1 1
Herman 3 0 1 1
Tofteland 2 1 0 0
Stegemann 2 1 2 0
Kopp 1 0 0 0
Graphenteen 2 0 1 0
Luverne 10,
Edgerton 6
The Cardinals secured their first league win of the season when they toppled Edgerton by four runs in Edgerton Thursday.
Five different Luverne players drew in runs at the plate in a game that belonged to the Cardinals after the first inning.
Edgerton drew first blood by scoring a run off Luverne's starting and winning pitcher Stegemann in the bottom half of the first inning.
Luverne, however, scored a combined nine runs in the second and third frames and never lost the lead the rest of the night.
Brandon Deragisch produced a key hit in a five-run second inning that gave the Cards a four-run cushion.
Remme doubled home a run in the second, while Taylor Graphenteen and Pick singled home runs.
Graphenteen and Fodness singled home runs during a four-run third inning that included Luverne plating a pair of unearned runs to take a 9-1 lead.
Edgerton scored twice in the bottom of the third to make it a 9-3 game, and added three more in the fifth after Luverne scored its last run in the top of the inning.
The game ended due to darkness after six innings of play.
Remme reached base on an error and scored Luverne’s fifth-inning run when Fodness singled.
Stegemann pitched the first four and two-thirds innings for Luverne. Wysong worked the final inning and one-third to pick up a save.
Box score AB R H BI
Remme 4 3 2 1
Fodness 3 0 1 1
Pick 4 0 1 1
Boen 4 0 0 0
Wysong 3 2 3 0
Herman 3 0 0 0
Bradley 1 0 0 0
Tofteland 2 2 1 0
Graphenteen 4 2 2 2
Deragisch 3 1 1 2