LaMoure offense leads the way

GRAFTON, N.D. — After a quiet section baseball tournament, LaMoure’s bats opened the North Dakota Class B American Legion baseball tournament with a bang.

A six-run fifth inning sparked LaMoure, the defending state champion, to an 11-6 first-round win against Washburn here Wednesday.

“We scored more runs today than we did in the whole section tournament,” said LaMoure coach J.R. Thielges, whose team had nine runs in three section tournament games. “These guys have been in big games before. I think that helped.”

LaMoure’s offense sputtered in the early going.

After Washburn took a 1-0 lead in the first, LaMoure didn’t get on the scoreboard until the fifth inning. LaMoure had chances -it loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning, and had runners on second and third with nobody out in the third, but couldn’t score in either inning.

In the fifth, however, LaMoure sent 11 batters to the plate. LaMoure only had three hits in the inning, but they were big ones -a run-scoring double by Gaige Dunn, a two-run double by Aaron Stemen and Zach Stemen’s towering fly ball to center field with a runner on for his first home run of the season off Washburn starting and losing left-handed pitcher Mitch Wachendorf.

“I thought we could get to him,” Thielges said. “He threw strikes, but I didn’t think he was overpowering. We don’t see a lot of lefties. We had to adjust to it.

“I told the guys to relax and have some fun. It looked like we were pressing.”

.Washburn coach Kip Erickson said Wachendorf has handled situations like the second and third innings before.

“In the section tournament, he did the same thing,” Erickson said. “We were in those situations several times and he pitched out of it. But it was one of those days where he lost his control and couldn’t get it back.

“They (LaMoure) are good hitters. You have to get ahead in the count and throw quality strikes. He was getting his pitches up in their hitting area. And we knew they had nice power.”

LaMoure added one run in the sixth and four in the seventh. Washburn rallied for four in the bottom of the seventh before Cole Gentzkow got out of the inning for the complete-game win.

“Cole pitched a heckuva game,” Thielges said. “He mixed up his pitches and was getting his curve over for strikes.”

Aaron Stemen went 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and Devin Olson was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI to lead the LaMoure offense. Brett Schreiner had three hits, while Evan Eberle was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run to pace Washburn.

Munich 13, Velva 4

Munich, trailing 4-1 entering the top of the sixth inning, broke loose with the bats.

Alex Anderson hit a two-run home run and Blake Klein a two-run double to highlight a seven-run sixth inning. Munich added five runs in the seventh.

Klein finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and his 11th home run of the season, scoring three and driving in four, to lead the Munich offense. Brandon Hoffman was 4-for-4.

Velva managed only four hits off winning pitcher Jesse Goeser, including a two-run single by Garrett Wible that gave Velva a 4-1 lead in the fifth.

Casselton 8, Watford City 5

Casselton broke a 5-5 tie with three runs in the top of the sixth to claim the win.

With the bases loaded in the sixth, Zachary Prante drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the go-ahead run. Beau Sinner followed with a single to center field to drive in two runs.

Alex Jacobson was 3-for-3, scoring three runs, to lead Casselton’s 12-hit offense. Trey Jacobson had a pair of hits and scored twice for Watford City, with Nick Liebel driving in two runs.

Brandon Rust threw 2 2/3 innings in relief, striking out six and picking off a runner, to get the mound win.

The Jamestown Sun and Grand Forks Herald are both owned by Forum Communications Co.

Tags: legion baseball, sports