LITCHFIELD — The Starbuck Junior Legion baseball team moved one step closer to the North Central Sub-State championship after picking up a 7-2 win over Litchfield on Tuesday at Optimist Park.

With the win, Starbuck qualifies for the North Central finals and will wait on the remaining team of the elimination bracket. The sub-state championship will get underway at 11 a.m. Saturday at Atwater. If needed, a second game will take place at 1 p.m.

Dylan Alexander led Starbuck’s offense, going 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Alex Panitzke was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a pair of stolen bases while Jack Larson had a hit, two runs, an RBI and three stolen bases. Nathan Dell picked up the win with six strikeouts over 5-1/3 innings.

Jacob Dietel was 2-for-3 for Litchfield while Hunter Schultz came up 1-for-3 with a double and a run. Tucker Liestman was hit with the loss after three innings of work.

Starbuck 7,
Litchfield 2

Starbuck 113 000 2-7 10 4

Litchfield 100 000 1-2 7 4

Hitting - Starbuck: Jack Majerus 1-4 r sb-2, Dylan Alexander 3-3 2b rbi bb, Nathan Dell 1-4, Jack Larson 1-3 r-2 rbi hbp sb-3, Alex Panitzke 2-3 rbi-2 sb-2, Austin Ballhagen 1-3 r bb sb-2, Austin Weber 1-4 rbi sb, Thomas Poegel 0-0 r sb, Connor Stein 0-0 r-2 sb … Litchfield: Jack McCann 1-2 r, Tucker Liestman 1-3 rbi bb, Hunter Schultz 1-3 2b r bb, Jacob Dietel 2-3 bb, Jaxon Marquardt 1-4 rbi, Jacob Elwell 1-4

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - Starbuck: Dell (W) 5 1/3-5-1-1-4-6, Panitzke 1 2/3-2-1-1-0-1 … Litchfield: Liestman (L) 3-6-5-3-1-2, Schultz 2-2-0-0-1-1, Anthony Estrada 2-2-2-2-2-0