Junior Legion routs Mankato Blue, 11-1

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

ST. JAMES -- There are games that are decided by a key defensive play late in the game or by a two-out base hit in the last at-bat.

Then there are others.

New Ulm Junior Legion cranked out 11 runs and 14 hits to win its 33rd game of the season, routing Mankato Blue 11-1 to win the Southwest Subdistrict of the Second District.

The game was halted after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

Junior Legion (33-12-1) will play Hutchinson Red on 2:30 p.m. Friday in Miesville while Mankato White will have to face another New Ulm team -- VFW Gold -- at noon Friday in Hastings at Vet's Field.

Right-hander Andy Kamm picked up the win for New Ulm, permitting only three hits while striking out four.

Jeff Sjvisted took the loss for Mankato and absorbed the 14-hit attack. He did not strike out a batter.

Keith McClellan and Nate Carroll paced the hitting attack with three hits each for Junior Legion. Blake Thorson and Andy Budahn each added two hits.

"Our kids came out a little more hungry today than we did this past weekend," said coach LeRoy Flor. "We started hitting the ball, did a little bunting and stealing, and that opened the whole game up for us."

Mankato drew first blood in the first inning when Andrew Wilkey singled and was sacrificed to second by Jeremy Lund.

Sjvisted's infield base hit put runners on first and third with one out. Sjvisted then stole second and when New Ulm catcher Thorson's throw to second baseman Carroll hit off his glove, Wilkey scored for a 1-0 lead.

But after that, Kamm was almost unhittable as he allowed only two more Mankato hitters to stand on a base. Joe Peterson's two-out single in the fourth inning broke a string of 10 straight Mankato hitters retired by Kamm. The other Blue runner to reach was Jason Winter, who reached on a two-out error in the fifth inning.

Other than that, Mankato players went from the batters box back to the dugout.

Meanwhile, New Ulm scored in every inning but the second.

Junior Legion scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on singles by McClellan and Carroll. Both runners moved up a base on Derik Johnson's ground out.

A Mitch Palmer ground out scored McClellan and Thorson's double to center plated Carroll for a 2-1 lead and New Ulm was off to the races.

Kyle Marti reached in the second inning on the first of four Mankato errors in the game and stole second. After Budahn and Tyson Anderson were retired on pop-ups, McClellan drew a walk before Carroll singled for a 3-1 New Ulm lead.

A double play stopped New Ulm from scoring in the third, but they made up for that with three runs in the fourth inning.

Marti doubled and went to third on Budahn's bunt single. Budahn promptly swiped second and when the throw from catcher Joe Peterson went into center field, Marti trotted home.

Budahn scampered to third on an Anderson sacrifice bunt and scored on McClellan's bunt single that padded the lead at 5-1. A Carroll single placed McClellan on third where he would score on a Johnson ground out.

"They (Mankato) really did not have any pitching left (from this weekend and they only had nine players," said Flor.

Junior Legion continued the scoring with five runs in the fifth to end the game with only one out.

Thorson singled and pinchrunner Dusty Farasyn went to second on a wild pitch. Mark Rolloff's base hit scored Farasyn with Rolloff going to second on an error on the play.

Joe Peters' base hit moved Rolloff to third. Budahn's double to left scored Rolloff with Peter getting to third.

A throwing error by Peterson let Peters score for a 9-1 lead.

Budahn came home with the 10th run of the game on an Anderson sacrifice fly, which was the only out of the inning. McClellan followed with a triple to right and Adam Hoscheit's base hit brought the game to an end.

"The kids really wanted to win this game," commented Flor. If New Ulm had lost, they would have had to play a second game. "We wanted to show that we were better."

MANKATO BLUE 100 00-- 1 3 2

NU JUNIOR LEGION 210 35--11 14 1