Luke Schonborn slides safely into third base in BE/W’s 14-1 win over the USC Legions on Friday, July 16.

The Blue Earth/Winnebago Post 89 and 82 American Legion baseball team found themselves trailing Luverne 3-0 after the top half of the first inning when the two teams met last Saturday, July 17. BE/W and Luverne were the last two undefeated squads remaining in the double-elimination Southwest Sub-State Tournament, which was hosted by Wabasso.

“I told the boys before the game Luverne is a good team,” BE/W coach Paul Nienaber commented. “They will put the ball in play and will find some holes. It will not be a perfect game.”

BE/W wasted no time responding to the challenge of overcoming their deficit.

They scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and tallied another four runs in the bottom of the second inning on their way to a 9-5 victory.

“Nobody got down. That was huge,” Nienaber said. “Our attitude remained upbeat. When Adam Schavey led off the bottom of the first with a single, it really lit a spark in the team.”

Following Schavey’s hit, Kean Hicks walked to put runners on first and second. Next, Keegan O’Brien laid down a bunt for a single. However, while trying to throw O’Brien out at first, Luverne threw the ball away which allowed both runners to score.

Logan O’Hara continued his streak of torrid hitting with a double which brought in O’Brien to tie the game 3-3. O’Hara would eventually score on a ground out by Ryan Madetzke. When the first inning was over, BE/W had erased Luverne’s advantage and had taken a 4-3 lead.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Allis, the starting pitcher for Post 89 and 82, began to settle down and find his rhythm. Allis would only allow two more runs, both unearned, during the remainder of the game.

BE/W, which was the home team for the game, took an 8-3 lead after adding four more runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Parker Meyers led off the inning with a walk. Schavey was out on a sacrifice bunt. However Meyers raced to third base when he saw nobody was covering the bag. In their attempt to throw out Meyers at third, Luverne threw the ball away which allowed Meyers to score.

Hicks and O’Brien each singled. A wild pitch put runners at second and third base and brought O’Hara to the plate.

O’Hara delivered a line drive to left field to score Hicks with O’Brien advancing to third base.

Madetzke then laid down a bunt with O’Brien sliding into home ahead of the tag for another run. Allis brought home the fourth run of the inning with a single to left field.

BE/W added one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning on another error by Luverne.

Allis went the distance to pick up the win. He walked two batters, struck out five and allowed five hits.

Post 89 and 82 scored their nine runs on nine hits.

Luverne committed three errors while BE/W was charged with two errors.

Three teams, Wells, Springfield and Luverne, each had one loss following the first weekend of play. Wells and Springfield squared off on Friday, July 23, at 1 p.m. The winner of that game played Luverne later that afternoon.

The winner of the second Friday afternoon game moved to the championship bracket needing to defeat BE/W twice to qualify for State whereas BE/W needed just one more win to advance to the State Tournament.

Look for results of the Sub-State Tournament in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.

BE/W 14, Wells 1

Blue Earth/Winnebago Post 89 and 82 scored eight runs in the bottom of the third inning to break open a close game against Wells in an American Legion Southwest Sub-State baseball play-off game on Friday, July 16.

BE/W scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and Wells scored one run in the top of the second inning to give BE/W a 2-1 lead through two complete innings.

In the bottom of the first, Adam Schavey’s lead-off home run gave BE/W a quick 1-0 lead. Kean Hicks walked, one of nine walks issued by Wells pitchers during the game, and later scored on a Logan O’Hara sacrifice fly to give BE/W a 2-0 lead.

After BE/W pitcher Anthony Carr recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third stanza, Post 89 and 82 used five walks, a hit batsman, two Wells errors and just two hits to push eight runs across the plate in the bottom half of the inning to take a 10-1 lead.

BE/W added four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to go up 14-1.

Carr went the distance on the mound to pick up the win for Post 89 and 82. He allowed one run on two hits in five innings of work. He hit one batter, gave up two walks and struck out six Wells’ batters.