Legion Gold no-hits Fairmont

By HANS BIEBL

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- John Enter tossed a five-inning no-hitter as New Ulm Legion Gold (17-3) trounced Fairmont Post 36 14-0 in a South Central Conference laugher Thursday night at Mueller Park.

Enter's dominating shutout of Fairmont included three 1-2-3 innings, four strikeouts, just three walks and no Fairmont runner past second base.

"I felt comfortable, and I was hitting spots," said Enter. "The defense did the job, too."

The Gold offense struck early with a nine-run first inning, taking advantage of a Fairmont defense that committed eight errors on the night.

Eric Austvold began the game with a triple off the wall in right. Brandon Reinarts then reached on the first of Fairmont's four errors of the inning.

Reinarts stole second, and when Fairmont catcher Tyler Paskey's throw sailed to center field, Austvold scored on Fairmont's second error and Reinarts moved to third.

After a Joey Schugel fielder's choice (in which Fairmont failed to get an out), Reinarts scored on Jamie Hoffmann's grounder to third that resulted in yet another error for Post 36.

Craig Spelbrink continued the rally with a sinlge to left that scored Schugel and Hoffmann, making the score 4-0. Spelbrink was thrown out at second while attempting to take second on a missplay of his single.

Two walks, a single by Robby Geistfeld, an error and an infield pop-out produced another Gold run and left the bases loaded with two outs for Reinarts. His infield RBI single scored Geistfeld to give Gold a commanding 6-0 lead.

A Fairmont passed ball scored another New Ulm run before Schugel dropped a bloop double to right field that scored two runs. Another Gold infield pop-out gave Fairmont three outs for the innings.

The first inning damage was all Gold would need as Enter and the New Ulm defense quickly killed any Fairmont hope of a comeback by allowing only 14 Fairmont batters to step to the plate in the remaining four innings.

New Ulm's offensive run-fest continued in the second. New Ulm scored two runs off two more Fairmont errors and another Reinarts RBI single to make the score 11-0.

New Ulm scored three more runs in the third for a 14-0 lead. Austvold and Jace Marti each added RBI for Gold in the third.

New Ulm did not score in the fourth.

Dustin Zollmer suffered the combination of the Gold attack and the lackluster Fairmont defense in taking the loss. He gave up 14 runs -- 10 earned -- while walking three and striking out none.

Reinarts was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI, and Austvold went 2-for-4 with one RBI. Schugel and Spelbrink each added two RBI.

New Ulm travels to Detroit Lakes Friday to face Mankato at 3 p.m. in the Water Carnival Classic.

Fairmont 000 00 -- 0 0 8

New Ulm 923 0x -- 14 10 1

Legion Blue tops Eagle Lake, 6-0

EAGLE LAKE -- Dusty Fleck struck out nine Eagle Lake batters in seven innings, and went three-for-four at the plate, scoring a run in the process, to lead New Ulm Legion Blue over Eagle Lake, 6-0.

Fleck gave up three hits in the shutout.

Travis Bode was two-for-four in the game, and Jacob Mertz (one-for-three) had an RBI triple.

Blue is 7-4 overall this season, and is 4-2 in league play. Their next game is 8 p.m. Monday in Mankato.