Roscoe 3
By Aaron Ziemer
St. Martin 18
Roscoe 3
By Aaron Ziemer
Roscoe was eliminated from the playoffs with a loss to St. Martin 18-3 on Sunday, in Roscoe.
Patrick Reusse (standing) of the Minneapolis Star Tribune was at the game to do an arrticle on the Stearns County League. Lee Schleper started and took the loss for Roscoe. Brent Heinen, Chris VanderBeek, Justin Mackedanz, and Jeff Welle threw relief for the Rangers.
Greg Heinen, Dale Mackedanz, Welle, Schleper, Rick Mackedanz, and Vander-Beek collected the only Ranger hits in the game.
Roscoe was down 7-0 before they got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. They scored two in the bottom of the fourth when Rick Mackedanz drove in Welle and Schleper.
That was about the only offensive highlight for the Rangers.
Pictured is St. Martin player, Jesse Thielen, being congratulated after his grand slam homer in the seventh.
Unlike Roscoe, St. Martin had plenty of offense. They had 18 hits which included seven home runs in the game.
With the loss Roscoe has been eliminated from the playoffs.
St. Martin will host Lake Henry on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
| St. Martin-- | 020 | 520 | 810 | -18 | 18 | 2 |
| Roscoe-- | 000 | 201 | 000 | -3 | 6 | 3 |
Lake Henry 9
Farming 7
By Aaron Ziemer
Lake Henry defeated Farming 9-7, to eliminate Farming from the playoffs.
Ryan Wuertz started and went five innings for the Lakers. Mike Stalboerger came in and finished the game.
Stalboerger remained on fire at the plate as he hit two more home runs for the Lakers. Stalboerger had a solo home run in the second, and another solo home run in the ninth. Ryan Wuertz also hit a three-run homer in the fifth. Mark Spanier helped things out for Lake Henry with three hits and Jeff Olmscheid had two.
With the victory Lake Henry has advanced to the regional tournament which is held in Elrosa this year. They will also be playing St. Martin on Sunday to see who will be the number one seed coming out of the Stearns County League. The first game of a best two-out-of three game series will be held on Sunday in St. Martin at 1:30 p.m.
County Line League
Melrose 11
Paynesville 8
By Aaron Ziemer
The Pirates were defeated by Melrose 11-8 on Sunday, in Melrose.
Dan Starken, pictured at right, started on the mound and went the distance. Starken pitched excellent only allowing four earned runs in the game.
The Pirates defense was terrible. They committed six errors in the game, with three of them coming in a costly first inning.
Darren Michaelis once again led the Pirates at the plate. Michaelis was 2-5 with two runs scored and a home run. Pat Mohs also had a decent game as he homered for Paynesville.
Paynesville jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on the solo-home run by Michaelis.
But, in the bottom of the first inning Melrose came up with four runs, thanks to the three Pirate errors. It could have been worse for Paynesville as Tyler Hess was picked off second in the inning, and Eric Spanier was thrown out trying to steal.
Two more Paynesville errors in the second inning led to two more Melrose runs. The inning was highlighted for the Black Sox by a Chad Hess two-run homer.
Paynesville didn't give up though as they began to chip away at the Melrose lead.
Josh Williams led off the fourth by reaching on an error and would come around to score on a single by Chris Stanley.
Paynesville pulled within one run at 6-5, in the top of the fifth when Mohs started a one-out rally by hitting his third home run of the season. After Starken struck out, Williams walked and Barten singled. Morris then walked and Stanley followed with a two-run single.
Melrose added one more run in the seventh when Paynesville committed another error and then followed to walk him across the plate to make the score 7-5, Melrose.
Paynesville captured the lead in the eighth by scoring three runs off Eric Meyer. Stanley led off with a walk and Shannon Olmscheid was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Michaelis singled to load the bases for Mohs. Mohs singled to drive in Stanley and Chris Soine, who was running for Olmscheid.
Michaelis also came around to score on a Melrose error and the score was 8-7, Paynesville.
Starken still had not given up an earned run in the game and went into the ninth with a one-run lead.
He struck out the first two batters in the inning. He then was able to get two strikes on Kurt Langer. Langer battled and then got a base hit, bringing Tyler Hess to the plate. Hess doubled off the fence to tie the game by driving in Langer. Eric Spanier was then hit by a pitch and Chad Hess hit a three-run homer to win the game for Melrose.
With the loss Paynesville will face Norway Lake-Sunburg in Sunburg in an elimination game, on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
| Paynesville-- | 100 | 130 | 030 | -8 | 8 | 6 |
| Melrose-- | 420 | 000 | 104 | -11 | 12 | 1 |
Exhibitions
Litchfield 3
Regal 2
By Michael Pauly
Regal lost to Litchfield 3-2 in 10 innings at Litchfield on Sunday, in an exhibition game.
Regal got on the scoreboard first in the sixth inning when Randy Beier led off with a double to left center field. Beier reached third on a ground out and also scored on a ground out.
Litchfield took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth with two unearned runs on two Regal errors.
In the seventh Regal tied the score at 2. Wade VonEschen reached first on an error, went to third on a double by Brad Lieser and scored on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Schultz.
In the bottom of the tenth inning, Litchfield's first batter reached first on a walk. The next batter sacrifice bunted the runner to second for the first out. After the next batter flew out to right field with no advancement of the runner, Troy Urdahl hit a double to right center that scored the game winning run.
Mike Beier started for Regal with Wade VonEschen pitching the last 2 2/3 innings and taking the loss. Jeff Wollin started for Litchfield and went the distance for the win.
Regal will next play O'Hara's at Eden Valley on Friday night, July 23, at 7 p.m. On Saturday, July 24, Regal will travel to Richmond for a 2 p.m. game.
| Regal-- | 000 | 011 | 000 | 0 | -2 | 6 | 4 |
| Litchfield-- | 000 | 002 | 000 | 1 | -3 | 6 | 3 |