Legion Baseball: Morris, Montevideo win openers
Tribune Staff Report
MONTEVIDEO -- A pitcher's duel went in Morris' favor Tuesday as Post 29 tripped up BOLD 2-1 in the first game of the District 7, Division II Legion Baseball Final Four tournament.
Mudhens' Jake Marcus starter gave up just three hits in a complete-game performance, but timely hits from Morris dropped the Mudhens into the loser's bracket.
Thursday's action will have BOLD and Eden Valley-Watkins meeting at 5:15 p.m. in an elimination game, and Morris and Montevideo playing in the winner's bracket final at 7:45 p.m.
Montevideo rallied for three runs in the bottom half of the seventh Tuesday to edge Eden Valley-Watkins 4-3.
Back-to-back doubles that both dropped just inside the foul line from No. 5 hitter Tyler Henrichs and Bryce Jergenson put Morris up 2-1 in the bottom half of the fourth inning.
Post 29 tied the game an inning earlier when Jacob Torgerson executed a squeeze bunt that brought Lincoln Berget in from third. Berget reached with an infield single and later stole second. An errant BOLD pickoff attempt at second allowed Berget to advance to third.
Mac Beyer gave up six hits -- five singles -- and didn't issue a walk while striking out three to earn a complete-game win for Morris.
BOLD put its lone run up on the scoreboard in the first after No. 4 hitter Logan Sandgren singled in Marcus, who singled and stole second.
The Mudhens had two runners on in the second, but a diving catch by Morris center fielder Tanner Picht on a ball hit by Zach Remillard defused BOLD's attempt to stretch its lead. Riley Kramer was stranded at second in the sixth after slugging a double.
Morris 2, BOLD 1
BOLD 100 000 0 -- 1 6 1
Morris 001 100 x -- 2 3 0
HITTING - BOLD: Jake Marcus 2-for-3; Logan Sandgren 1-for-3, rbi; Tyler Seehusen 1-for-3; Riley Kramer 1-for-3, 2b; Trent Athmann 1-for-3 ... Morris: Tyler Henrichs 1-for-3, 2b; Bryce Jergenson 1-for-3, 2b, rbi; Lincoln Berget 1-for-2
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- BOLD: Marcus (L) 6-3-2-2-3-4 ... Morris: Mac Beyer (W) 7-6-1-1-0-3
Three-run 7th pushes Monte into winner's bracket final
MONTEVIDEO -- The Montevideo Legion team scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, thanks in part to four Eden Valley-Watkins errors, to claim a thrilling 4-3 win the second game of the District 7, Division I Final Four tourney on Tuesday.
With the game tied 3-3, Montevideo's Colton Vien stole third and continued home and scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch on the play.
Montevideo, 13-3 overall and riding a 10-game winning streak, plays Morris at 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Morris advanced in the winners' bracket with a 2-1 win over BOLD in Tuesday's first game in Montevideo.
EV-W, a regional Legion champ last season, took a 3-0 lead into the sixth, but Montevideo's Austin Hoehne singled in Tanner Lindemann to get the team on the board.
Kyle TeBeest started off the wild seventh for Montevideo by reaching on an error. Joe Bednar followed with a single to right-center field.
With one out, Colton Vien hit a ground ball to shortstop. But the throw to get Bednar at second base sailed into right field, allowing TeBeest to score, and then the ball got away from the right fielder and Bednar came around to score, tying the game.
With Vien on second, EV-W walked Lindemann intentionally, and Montevideo called for Vien to attempt a steal of third, but EV-W's pitch bounced to the backstop and Vien rounded third and kept going for home. A throw from the catcher to the pitcher skipped short and Vien scored the winning run.
Bednar was 3-for-4 and scored a run, and Brett Bergeson, Hoehne and Jordan Thompson had Montevideo's other hits.
Vien worked a complete game for the win, scattering nine hits and allowing just one earned run while striking out six.
Montevideo 4,
Eden Valley-Watkins 3
EV-Watkins 101 010 0 -- 3 9 4
Montevideo 000 001 3 -- 4 6 4
HITTING - Eden Valley-Watkins: Kevin Kramer 4-for-4 3b 2b r-2, Mitch Geislinger 0-for-4 rbi-2, Hayden Wilner 2-for-3 ... Montevideo: Joe Bednar 3-for-4 r, Brett Bergeson 1-for-4, Colton Vien 0-for-2 r-2, Austin Hoehne 1-for-4 rbi, Jordan Thompson 1-for-3
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- Eden Valley-Watkins: Wilner (L) 6.2-6-4-1-4-5 ... Montevideo: Vien (W) 7-9-3-1-0-6
