The Luverne Senior American Legion baseball team began playoff action as the top seed in their sub sub-state division.
Luverne lived up to the ranking by advancing to this weekend’s Southwest Sub-state Tournament in St. James with wins over Tracy and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton last week in Milroy.
Luverne will open sub-state play at 2 p.m. today (Thursday) against Windom in St. James.
With a win, Luverne will play either Springfield or Blue Earth at 5 p.m. Friday.
A loss would send Luverne to a consolation bracket game on Friday.
Round three games, if necessary, are scheduled for Saturday in St. James.
The semifinals and finals of the Southwest Sub-state Tournament are scheduled for July 22 and 23 respectively.
As hosts of this year’s Division II Minnesota Senior American Legion State Tournament, Luverne will automatically advance from sub-state play.
The Southwest Sub-state champions, if not Luverne, or the second-place team if Luverne wins the sub-state, will also quality for the state tournament.
Luverne 10, Tracy 4
Luverne opened the playoffs with a 10-4 victory over Tracy at Yankee Field in Milroy Thursday, July 7.
Casey Sehr led the Luverne offense. He went three for four at the plate, scored two runs and added two RBIs.
Riley Sneller also had two RBIs, including a triple during the seventh inning.
Ethan Beyer, Kaden Anderson and Will Serie also had two hits each in the game.
Anderson pitched six strong innings for Luverne. The right-hander gave up four runs off four hits and struck out nine.
Casey Sehr came to the mound for the final inning and gave up no hits and no runs to earn the save.
Tracy 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 4
Luverne 3 1 4 0 0 0 2 10
AB R H BI
B Ripka 3 1 1 0
E Beyer 3 1 2 1
K Anderson 4 2 2 1
Casey Sehr 4 2 3 2
R Sneller 3 1 1 2
W Serie 4 1 2 1
J Stroh 3 0 0 0
Carter Sehr 1 0 1 1
C Overgaard 2 2 2 0
E Domagala 2 0 0 0
Luverne 10, RTR 2
After winning the first game in Milroy Thursday, Luverne moved on to face Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Thursday night.
Luverne enjoyed a 9-2 lead in the middle of the fourth inning, when the game was delayed until the next day because of rain.
The teams returned to Milroy’s Yankee Field Friday for the final 3 1/2 innings.
In the bottom of the fifth, Luverne scored the only run of the 28-minute Friday portion of the game.
On Thursday evening, Anderson hit an RBI triple in the first inning of the game, with Luverne scoring three runs.
Anderson totaled two hits, scored two runs and added two RBIs in the win.
The Luverne offense then exploded with two homeruns and six total runs during the second inning.
Serie belted a three-run bomb and Braydon Ripka hit a tw0-run homer in the inning.
Beyer and Casey Sehr each had doubles in the contest.
Beyer was the winning pitcher for Luverne. He spent four innings on the mound, giving up two runs on two hits, walking three and striking out eight.
Casey Sehr pitched the final three innings. He struck out one and gave up just one hit.
RTR 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
Luverne 3 6 0 0 1 0 0 10
AB R H BI
B Ripka 3 1 1 2
E Beyer 3 2 1 0
K Anderson 4 2 2 2
Casey Sehr 4 2 2 1
R Sneller 3 0 0 1
W Serie 3 1 2 3
C Overgaard 3 0 0 0
E Domagala 3 1 1 1
Carter Sehr 2 1 1 0