By John RittenhouseThe Luverne VFW baseball team went 3-1 and placed second during its own tournament staged at Redbird Field over the weekend.The Cardinals beat Fairmont on Friday before posting victories over New Ulm and Tracy on Saturday to win their pool and earn a berth in Sunday’s championship game.Fairmont beat the Cardinals in the title tilt, ending their seven-game winning streak to start the 2004 season.Fairmont 15, Luverne 9The Cardinals were unable to defeat Fairmont for the second time during the tournament when the teams squared off in Sunday’s championship game.Luverne led 3-0 after scoring three runs in the top of the first inning, but Fairmont outscored the Cards 15-6 the rest of the way to win the title tilt by six runs.Marc Boelman and Tyler Reisch notched RBIs for fielder’s choices to highlight Luverne’s three-run first inning.Luverne, however, couldn’t protect the lead. Fairmont scored at least one run in every inning and put together four-run rallies in the second and third frames to win the game handily.Jake Clark slapped three hits and was one of seven Luverne players to record one RBI in the game.Boelman started the game on the mound and took the loss. Derek Elbers, Clark and Nathan Boler pitched in relief.Box score AB R H BIClark 4 2 3 1Elbers 3 1 0 1Fitzer 4 0 0 1Boomgaarden 1 0 0 0Boelman 4 2 1 1Reisch 3 1 0 1Lundgren 2 0 1 1Oeding 3 1 1 1Boler 2 1 0 0Bruynes 1 0 0 0DeBoer 1 0 0 0Deutsch 1 0 0 0Nath 1 1 1 1Luverne 14, Tracy 4The Cardinals coasted to a 10-run win over Tracy in a six-run contest during Luverne’s final game of pool play Saturday.Luverne scored seven runs in the first two innings and never looked back on the way to a lopsided victory.Reisch, one of two Cards to drive in two runs in the contest, delivered a two-run double to help the hosts open a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Craig Oeding, who led Luverne with three hits and three RBIs, belted a two-run single when the Cards scored four times to take a 7-0 cushion in the second.Elbers also picked up two RBIs for the winners, who scored two runs in the fourth inning and five in the sixth to counter Tracy’s four-run surge in the top of the third frame.Micah Boomgaarden pitched all six innings to pick up the win.Box score AB R H BIClark 2 3 0 0Elbers 2 2 1 2Fitzer 4 0 0 0Boelman 4 2 1 1Deutsch 1 0 0 0Reisch 2 2 1 2Boler 0 1 0 0Lundgren 2 1 1 1Oeding 4 2 3 3Bruynes 1 0 0 0DeBoer 1 0 0 0Richters 3 1 1 1Luverne 9, NU 5The Cardinals overcame 1-0 and 3-2 deficits early in the contest to defeat New Ulm by four runs in Saturday’s first game.The score was knotted at four after NU scored one run in the top of the fifth inning, but the Cards regained the lead at 5-4 with a counter in the bottom of the fifth before scoring three times in the sixth to ice the victory.Oeding, who had two hits in the game, drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning with an RBI single.Oeding, Reisch and Chris Fitzer singled home one run each when Luverne put the game away in the sixth.Oeding and Reisch led the Cards at the plate with two hits and two RBIs each.Andrew DeBoer pitched the first five innings to pick up the win. Fitzer worked the final two frames to earn a save.Box score AB R H BIClark 2 2 0 0Elbers 3 1 1 0Boelman 3 0 0 0Reisch 3 1 2 2Boler 2 2 0 1Bruynes 2 0 0 0Boomgaarden 1 1 0 0Lundgren 3 1 1 0Deutsch 2 0 0 0Fitzer 2 0 1 1Oeding 2 0 2 2Luverne 15, Fairmont 7The Cardinals opened the tournament by rolling to an eight-run win over eventual champion Fairmont in Friday’s first round.Clark, Elbers and Brett Lundgren drove in two runs each to lead the Cards offensively in the game.Caleb Bruynes tossed four innings of relief to gain the pitching win. Ben Nath started the game on the mound.The score was tied at six when Luverne scored nine straight runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to assume control of the contest.Two runs scored on errors and Lundgren was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, when Luverne plated three runs to take a 9-6 advantage.Elbers produced a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to make it a 10-6 game, and he picked up the only RBI with a single when the Cards scored five runs in the fifth to settle the issue.Box score AB R H BIClark 4 2 1 2Lundgren 2 1 0 2Finke 1 0 0 0Fitzer 3 1 0 0Bruynes 1 0 0 0Boelman 2 2 0 0Nath 2 1 0 0Elbers 3 3 1 2Boler 3 2 0 0DeBoer 4 1 1 0Deutsch 2 2 0 1
