Karson Legred slides safely into second with a stolen base in BE/W’s win over Truman.

It was a classic pitcher’s duel in the first game of the doubleheader when Truman came to Veterans Field in Blue Earth to take on Blue Earth/Winnebago in Senior League baseball action on Monday, July 20.

BE/W eventually won the game 6-5 and then took the second game of the doubleheader 12-5 to improve their record to 7-0.

Paxton Gravlin was on the mound for Truman. Gravlin, who pitches for Rochester Community and Technical College, was matched up against BE/W’s Koby Nagel, a 2020 graduate of Blue Earth Area High School, in the first game.

The home team touched Gravlin for one run in the bottom of the second inning. Luke Mertens had a lead-off walk and scored on a triple off the bat of Nagel.

Truman tied it with one run in the top of the fourth inning before Nagel worked out of a bases loaded jam.

A walk, two singles to the outfield and an infield hit scored one run and loaded the bases for Truman with only one out. Nagel struck out the next two batters and the score was tied at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.

The score was still 1-1 when Truman came to bat in the top of the fifth inning.

A combination of errors by BE/W and hits by Truman allowed three runners to cross home plate for the visitors. Once again Truman was poised to do more damage with runners on first and second with only one out.

Keegan O’Brien came in and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. O’Brien, who will be a senior this year at BEA, struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam but Truman had now taken a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.

BE/W scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth. O’Brien led off with a single, stole second base, and scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Anders Fering reached second base on an outfield error and scored on a double by Logan O’Hara to cut Truman’s lead to 4-3 after five complete innings.

BE/W held Truman scoreless in the top of the sixth inning and then scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning to go up 6-4.

Kean Hicks started the rally with a two-out single to right field. Hicks stole second base and O’Brien walked.

Hicks stole third base and O’Brien stole second to put runners on second and third with two outs.

Hicks scored on a wild pitch as he slid between the legs and under the tag of the Truman catcher. O’Brien took third base on the play.

Hunter Bleess walked and went to second on defensive indifference. O’Brien and Bleess scored on a single by Karson Legred for BE/W’s second and third runs of the inning.

Truman scored one run in the top of the seventh and had the tying run at second base when BE/W recorded the final out to earn the 6-5 win.

BE/W 12, Truman 5

This game was close through the first five innings with Blue Earth/Winnebago holding on to a slim 4-2 lead.

BE/W was the visiting team for the second game. Each team scored twice in the first inning before BE/W took the lead for good with two runs in the top of the second inning for a 4-2 lead.

Neither team scored again until the top of the sixth inning when BE/W scored five runs to go on top 9-2.

Truman scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut BE/W’s lead to 9-5. BE/W added three more runs in the top of the seventh and held Truman scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to claim the 12-5 victory.

Anthony Carr and Jimmy Allis shared the pitching duties for BE/W in the second game.