VFW baseball roundup: Willmar remains alive in district play
Jul. 24—BRAINERD — The Willmar VFW baseball team won one and lost one Monday on the first day of the district tournament.
Post 1639 opened with a 2-1 loss to host Brainerd. Willmar then rebounded in the losers' bracket with a 7-5 victory over Princeton.
Willmar is scheduled to play in another elimination game at 1:30 p.m. at the Brainerd High School field. If Post 1639 wins, it would play again at 4 p.m.
The tournament, which combines teams from District V and District VI, continues through Wednesday with the championship game set for 1:30 p.m. A second game, if necessary, would take place at 11 a.m. Thursday.
At stake is a berth in the state tournament Aug. 3-5 in St. Cloud.
Willmar (11-12-1) opened with a well-pitched ball game by Blake Reiman. Reiman tossed a six-inning complete game, striking out five and walking two. He allowed one hit and two runs, including one earned.
Connor Smith with 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base. Braeden Fagerlie was 1-for-3 with a triple and a run and Gavin Banks was 1-for-3 with a stolen base.
In the second game, Smith tossed a complete game, striking out three and walking three. He allowed 10 hits and four earned runs.
Fagerlie went 2-for-4 with two runs and three stolen bases. Trey Tallman, Tyler Madsen, Smith, Reiman and Jaxin Schirmers all had hits for Post 1639.
Princeton 101 002 1-5 10 0
Willmar 221 101 x-7 7 1
Hitting — Princeton: C. Drews 2-4 r-2, D. Julson 1-4 sb, D. Patnode 2-4 r-2, I Nelson 4-4 r rbi-2 2b, T. Winskowski 0-3 rbi bb, J. Kaiser 0-3 rbi bb, L. Bratulich 0-3 rbi, I. Emmerich 0-2 bb, G. Peck 1-3 ... Willmar: TreyTallman 1-3 r sb-2, Tyler Madsen 1-4 rbi-2 2b sb, Braeden Fagerlie 2-4 r-2 sb-3, Connor Smith 1-2 rbi bb, Blake Reiman 1-2 r bb 2b, Jordan Ellingson 0-1 rbi bb hbp sb, Gavin Banks 0-0 r bb-2 sb, Jaxin Schirmers 1-2 r rbi 2b sb, Gavin Evenson 0-0 r bb
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Princeton: Patnode (L) 4-6-6-5-2, Julson 2-1-1-1-1-1 ... Willmar: Smith (W) 7-10-5-4-3-3
Willmar 010 000 0-1 4 3
Brainerd 100 001 x-2 1 1
Hitting — Willmar: Braeden Fagerlie 1-3 r 3b, Blake Reiman 0-3 rbi, Connor Smith 2-2 bb sb, Gavin Banks 1-3 sb ... Brainerd: Stats unavailable
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Willmar: Reiman (L) 6-1-2-1-2-5 ... Brainerd: Stats unavailable
Litchfield Post 2818 opened play in the District V/VI tournament with a loss to Little Falls at Brainerd.
Anthony Estrada led Litchfield (12-16-1) by going 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, a walk and two runs. Ben Olson was 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch, a run and an RBI and Dawson Steinhaus was 1-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs.
Litchfield 000 103 1-5 4 3
Little Falls 100 314 x-9 7 2
Hitting — Litchfield: Ben Olson 1-3 r rbi hbp, Anthony Estrada 2-3 r-2 bb 2b 3b, Ethan Holtz 0-2 bb sb, Tripp McCann 0-2 rbi-2 bb, Dawson Steinhaus 1-3 r-2 sb ... Little Falls: Gwost 0-2 r rbi bb sf sb-2, Toure 1-1 r bb-2 sb-2, Thomas 1-3 r rbi bb, Dahlberg 0-3 r hbp, Welinski 3-4 r-2 rbi-2 sb-2, Santala 1-2 rbi bb sb, Ahlin 0-4 r rbi, Kalis 0-3 r,, Sprang 1-1 r rbi bb-2
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Litchfield: Jordan Abbott (L) 5-5-7-4-7-2, Gideon Boerema 1-2-2-2-0-0 ... Little Falls: Welinski (W) 6-2-4-1-3-9, not available IP-1-2-1-1-0-0
