Lakers top St. Martin in extra innings, tie for league title
With the game knotted at 5-5, Jeff Schmitz led off the bottom of the tenth inning with a double off the rightfield wall in Lake Henry. An intentional walk to Adam Kampsen and a Martin error loaded the bases with one out. Olmscheid bunted on a squeeze play, with St. Martin pitcher Ken Arceneau fielding the ball and tossing to catcher Jake Thelen, but Schmitz beat the throw on a close play at the plate.
With the win, Lake Henry tied with St. Martin for the south title, both finishing 11-2, but the Martins won the coin flip after the game and will be the #1 seed for the playoffs, with the Lakers being the #2 seed.
Lake Henry teammates mobbed Jeff Olmscheid after his tenth-inning suicide-squeeze bunt lifted the Lakers to a 6-5 win over St. Martin.
The play in the tenth was the third time that a squeeze play had been used in the game. St. Martin tied the game in the eighth inning with an unusual squeeze play, and the Lakers used a squeeze play in the sixth inning.
With Lake Henry leading 5-4 in the top of the eighth, the Martins used a squeeze play with one out and runners on second and third. But the batter missed the pitch, resulting in Martin pinch runner Jim Lieser getting caught in a rundown between home and third. Lieser avoided the tag of Laker catcher Jon Lieser - Lake Henry argued that Lieser should have been called out for going out of the baseline - and scored the tying run.
The Lakers' earlier attempt at the squeeze play was unsuccessful, too, as Pat Mohs missed the pitch and Adam Kampsen was tagged out heading home in the sixth inning. But Mohs atoned for his miss by hitting a two-out, two-run single that gave the Lakers a 5-4 lead.
Schmitz had started the Lakers' three-run, sixth-inning rally by hitting a leadoff homerun to rightcenter to cut the Martins' lead to 4-3.
The Lakers had used the long ball to take a 2-0 lead. Doug Fuchs homered to leftcenter in the bottom of the second for the first runs of the game.
But St. Martin tied the game with two runs in the top of the third, with Steve Lieser and Nathan Beier doubling and scoring to tie the game at 2-2. In fourth, St. Martin took a 4-2 lead as Jesse Thelen hit a two-run homer to center.
Mohs started pitching for Lake Henry, and Fuchs earned the victory with five innings in relief. Nathan Schlangen started for St. Martin, while Arceneau was tagged with the loss.
The playoff picture in the Stearns County League South is uncertain. The league ruled - on a 4-1 vote on Sunday night - that third-place Richmond should be ineligible for the playoffs. Richmond played 21 players in their 7-0 loss at St. Martin on Sunday, July 4.
Jesse Thelen accepts congratulations from teammmates after his two-run homer in the fourth inning gave St. Martin a 4-2 lead on Sunday.
Rules allow teams to play only 20 players after June, according to Art Schlangen, president of the Stearns County South.
Richmond has appealed the league ruling to the state board, which is expected to rule this week. What's known for sure is that Lake Henry and St. Martin will host playoff games at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 18. What's unknown is who they will play.
As it stands now, with Richmond (7-6) out of the playoffs, St. Martin (11-2) would play Roscoe (4-9) while Lake Henry (11-2) would play Farming (5-8).
If Richmond wins its appeal, however, they would become the third seed and Roscoe would be out of the playoffs. Then, St. Martin would host Farming next Sunday, and Lake Henry would host Richmond.
Either way, the best-of-three playoff series will start in St. Martin and Lake Henry on Sunday.
| St. Martin-- | 002 | 200 | 010 | 0 | - 5 | 9 | 3 |
| Lake Henry-- | 020 | 003 | 000 | 1 | - 6 | 12 | 2 |
St. Martin - Batting: Jesse Thielen 3-4 HR RBI-2; Nathan Beier 2-4 2B R; Steve Lieser 1-4 2B R; Sam Rothstein 1-4 2B; Jake Thelen 1-5 RBI; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Nathan Schlangen (5-8-4-4-0-6); Ken Arceneau (L ) (4.1-4-2-1-1-3).
Lake Henry - Batting: Adam Kampsen 3-4 2B R; Jeff Schmitz 2-5 HR 2B R-2; Josh Kampsen 2-5 2B; Adam Miller 2-5 R; Doug Fuchs 1-4 HR RBI-2 R-2; Pat Mohs 1-4 RBI-2; Ryan Wuerz 1-5; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Mohs (5-6-4-4-3-2); Fuchs (W) (5-2-1-0-0-3).
Roscoe 3, Richmond 2
Roscoe scored three runs in the sixth inning, breaking a scoreless tie, and beat Richmond 3-2 on Sunday to sweep their season series with the Royals.
Brent Heinen, Todd Leyendecker, and Justin Mackedanz scored for the Rangers in the sixth inning, with Bret Aagesen, Mike Heinen, and Chris VanderBeek getting RBIs.
The three runs gave Roscoe a 3-0 lead. Richmond scored a run in the seventh and another in the eighth to make the final 3-2.
Brent Heinen earned the pitching victory, going seven innings. His brother, Greg Heinen, came out of retirement to earn the save.
The Rangers also beat Richmond 6-5 in June in Roscoe.
With the win, Roscoe could have tied with Farming in the Stearns County League South Division, but Farming (5-8) beat Spring Hill 6-5 on Sunday in ten innings to stay a game ahead.
But, as it stands now, though, Roscoe (4-9) will play in the league playoffs, as Richmond (7-6) has been ruled ineligible for the playoffs for using an extra player by the league board. Right now, Roscoe would be the fourth seed and would play at St. Martin on Sunday to start the playoffs. But if Richmond's appeal is upheld by the state board - overruling the league - then Richmond would make the playoffs, and Roscoe would be left out.
| Roscoe-- | 000 | 003 | 000 | - 3 | 6 | 2 |
| Richmond-- | 000 | 000 | 110 | - 2 | 8 | 0 |
Roscoe - Batting: Todd Leyendecker 1-4 R; Chris VanderBeek 1-4 RBI; Brent Heinen 1-3 R; Justin Mackedanz 1-3 R; Russ Leyendecker 1-4; R.J. Leyendecker 1-4; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Brent Heinen (W) (7.1-6-2-0-3-3); Greg Heinen (W) (1.2-2-0-0-0-2).
Richmond - Batting: Greg Drontle 2-5; Scott Ruegemer 2--4; Brent Ruegemer 2-3; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Nick Hervin (L) (5.2-5-3-3-5-3); Jeremy Glenz (3.1-1-0-0-1-0).
Regal splits doubleheader
The Regal Eagles split a doubleheader on Sunday in the Cornbelt League, losing 13-1 to Raymond in the first game but rallying to beat Starbuck 9-6 in the second.
Against Starbuck, Regal scored three runs in the fifth and four in the sixth to rally for a 9-6 win. Mike Mueller and A.J. Hadley had two RBIs each for Regal, and Pat Rohe hit a solo homer. Hadley pitched seven innings in relief to earn the victory, which lifted Regal's league record to 6-7.
Earlier, Regal lost by the ten-run rule in seven innings to Raymond (22-6 overall). Raymond broke a 1-1 game with two runs in the fifth, three more in the sixth, and seven in the seventh to invoke the ten-run rule.
Regal 9, Starbuck 6
| Starbuck-- | 130 | 020 | 000 | - 6 | 8 | 4 |
| Regal-- | 010 | 034 | 01x | - 9 | 8 | 1 |
Starbuck - Batting: Zach Legred 3-5 R-2; Joe Heilbeger 2-6 R; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Heilberger (L) (8-8-9-9-5-3).
Regal - Batting: Pat Rohe 2-3 HR R-3; A.J. Hadley 2-4 R-2 RBI-2; Mike Mueller 1-3 RBI-2; Chris Rohe 1-3 R-2; Greg Hadley 1-4 R; Josh Eckstein 1-4; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Josh Krupke (2-3-4-3-1-0); Eckstein (W) (7-5-2-2-8-4).
Raymond 13, Regal 1
| Raymond-- | 010 | 023 | 7xx | - 13 | 11 | 1 |
| Regal-- | 001 | 000 | 0xx | - 1 | 5 | 4 |
Raymond - Batting: Mike Kragenbring 3-5 R-2; Jed Nelson 3-5 R-3; Kyle Knott 2-5 HR RBI-3 R-3; Mike Jeseritz 2-4 R-2; Pitching: Nate Hebrink (W).
Regal - Batting: Josh Krupke 1-2 RBI; Hadley 1-4 2B R; Mueller 1-3; Chris Beier 1-3; Greg Hadley 1-3; Pitching: Greg Hadley (L).
Pirates lose two
The Paynesville Pirates (6-7) lost two games in the Cornbelt League last week, falling to Willmar 5-2 on Friday and to Atwater 8-1 on Sunday.
Atwater used a seven-run fourth inning to beat the Pirates 8-1 in Atwater on Sunday afternoon.
Willmar broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the third inning and then scored two more in the seventh inning to win 5-2 on Friday night in Willmar.
The Pirates had only three hits in both games. Justin Butkofski had all three hits for Paynesville against Willmar on Friday.
This week, the Pirates will start the Cornbelt League playoffs by hosting Starbuck on Wednesday, July 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Paynesville.
Atwater 8, Paynesville 1
| Paynesville-- | 000 | 000 | 100 | - 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Atwater-- | 010 | 700 | 000 | - 8 | 8 | 0 |
Paynesville - Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Justin Butkofski (L) (6-7-8-8-6-4); Nate Schutz (2-1-0-0-0-2).
Willmar 5, Paynesville 2
| Paynesville-- | 010 | 000 | 001 | - 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Willmar-- | 012 | 000 | 20x | - 5 | 8 | 0 |
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