Karson Legred is safe at second, top photo, because the Fairmont shortstop does not have the ball.

Blue Earth/Winnebago got their Senior League season off to a good start with a sweep of a doubleheader against Fairmont on Monday, July 6, at Veterans Field in Blue Earth.

BE/W won the first game 6-4 and capped off the evening with a 5-2 win in the second game.

“The boys played well,” BE/W head coach Brent Legred said. “The pitching was solid and we hit the ball. We had a few miscues on the base-paths but the guys really hustled.”

The Senior League is a substitute for the cancelled American Legion season. Teams are scheduled to play two doubleheaders per week. The first game of the doubleheader will count in the standings. The second game will be used to decide any potential tiebreakers at the end of the season.

Keegan O’Brien started on the mound for BE/W and was bolstered in his efforts by solid defensive play. After allowing a bloop single to start the game, O’Brien got the next batter to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to empty the bases. The next batter hit a ground ball to first baseman Anders Fering who tossed the ball to O’Brien who beat the Fairmont runner to the bag.

BE/W batters got right to work in the bottom of the first inning. Consecutive doubles by O’Brien, Logan O’Hara and Karson Legred put two runs on the scoreboard for the home team.

With Legred on second base, Anders Fering drew a walk. Hunter Bleess moved both runners up a base with a groundout to the second baseman.

An alert play by Legred allowed him to steal home for BE/W’s third run of the inning. Adam Schavey then connected for the home team’s fourth double of the inning to drive in Fering and stake BE/W to a 4-0 lead after one inning.

Fairmont drew two walks to begin the top of the third inning. A bloop single over first base loaded the bases. O’Brien struck out the next batter before giving up a single which brought in two runs. O’Brien regrouped and struck out the next two Fairmont batters to escape the inning without further damage and BE/W maintained a 4-2 lead.

O’Hara took the mound for the top of the fifth inning and quickly recorded two outs. After surrendering a walk, BE/W should have been out of the inning but an error on a ground ball to the second baseman kept the inning going. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third base and a single brought in both runners to tie the game up at 4-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.

O’Hara helped his own cause in the bottom of the fifth inning. He hit a lead-off double, stole third base and scored on a bad throw from the catcher to the third baseman. BE/W led 5-4 after five complete innings.

O’Hara shut down Fairmont in the top of the sixth inning while BE/W added one more run in their half of the inning. Schavey was hit by a pitch and stole second base. He came around to score when Luke Mertens laced an opposite-field single to right field.

O’Hara finished the game strong by striking out the last two Fairmont batters in the top of the seventh inning to cement BE/W’s 6-4 win.

BE/W outhit Fairmont 9-5 in the opening contest.

BE/W 5, Fairmont 2

Blue Earth/Winnebago was the visiting team for the second game of the doubleheader.

BE/W never trailed as they downed Fairmont 5-2 in the nightcap.

Koby Nagel drew a two-out walk in the top of the third inning. He stole second and then scored on a double by Hunter Bleess off the centerfield wall.

O’Hara, who had two doubles and a single in the opening contest, continued his scorching hitting display with a home run in the top of the fourth inning to give BE/W a 2-0 lead.

Fairmont scored one run to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth inning to make the score 2-1 in favor of BE/W.

The top of the sixth inning saw Bleess and Schavey both draw walks to start the inning. Another double by O’Hara, his third of the day, scored Bleess to make the score 3-1. A walk to Ryan Madetzke loaded the bases. Another walk, this time to Mertens, forced in the second run of the inning. The final run of the inning came when Kean Hicks hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score O’Hara. BE/W now held a 5-1 lead.

Fairmont managed one run in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the final score 5-2.

BE/W used five pitchers in the game and they surrendered two runs on two hits. BE/W scored their five runs while collecting four hits.