NU Junior Legion receives

free ride past Luverne, 14-4

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- You cannot defense walks in baseball.

Saturday afternoon, New Ulm Junior Legion took advantage of 14 free passes by three Luverne pitchers to rout Luverne 14-4.

Despite the win, New Ulm was eliminated earlier in the day when Ralston, Neb., defeated Sioux Falls, S.D.

John Knisley got the win for New Ulm, striking out five and giving up four hits.

Tom Frey took the loss for Luverne, going only 1/3 of an inning. He yielded four hits and three walks for eight runs.

No one had more than one hit for New Ulm. But with the control problems Luverne pitchers were having, none were needed.

New Ulm put up 10 runs in the first inning to realistically end the game. A walk, a single by Isaac Forstner and an error on a Jace Marti ground ball allowed Eric Austvold to score. A Dan Kitzberger single and a fielder's choice upped the lead to 3-0 before a wild pitch and a balk made it 4-0. RBI singles by Jeff Dolan and Austvold along with a walk to Forstner made it 8-0.

A wild pitch and another free pass made it 10-0.

Luverne scored a run in the second on an RBI single by Jesse Kuhlman before New Ulm planted three more runs on a wild pitch and a two-run single by Kory Andersen.

Luverne pushed three runs across in the fourth on a fielder's choice, a wild pitch and an RBI single.

New Ulm scored the run that ended the game because of the 10-run rule in the fifth on an infield single by Bobby Wellmann.

LUVERNE 010 30 -- 4 4 3

NU JR LEGION (10)03 1x--14 7 0

NU VFW GOLD 4, WILLMAR 1

Matt Nachreiner allowed just two hits while striking out 13 to lead the New Ulm VFW Gold to a 4-1 win over Willmar.

The win improved VFW Gold to 4-0 in the Junior Classic and they will play Sioux Falls, S.D., in the semifinals at noon today.

New Ulm scored all four of their runs in the fourth inning.

Mitch Palmer led Gold bats going 2-for-3 with a double while Derik Johnson and Nate Carroll each added a hit.

Bill Speaker and Jeff Freeman had Willmar's only two hits of the game.

Speaker was tagged for the loss allowing four hits. But he walked seven and threw six wild pitches. He struck out eight.

Nachreiner walked eight in getting the complete-game win.

RALSTON, Neb., 4, SIOUX FALLS, S.D., 2

Ralston used a four-run third inning to stay alive in the Junior Upper Midwest Classic.

Dan Cunningham and Mike Hempel each had two hits for Ralston with Hempel driving in two runs in the third inning.

Matt Weiderich led Sioux Falls with two hits.

Greg Ahart got the win for Ralston going 6 2/3 innings before yielding to Tony Burrell.

The win by Ralston eliminated the New Ulm Junior Legion from playing in the championship round today.