A walkoff single by Connor Erickson in the championship game helped Glenwood-Lowry Legion baseball team earn a berth in the West Central Sub-State Division II “Final Four.”

The Lakers, who are 15-5 going into the “Final Four” beat Sauk Centre (10-0) last Monday, Brooten (11-3), Thursday and Brooten again, Saturday (6-5) to claim the Northeast “pod” championship.  All the tournament games were at home.

The Lakers are now set to play in the “Final Four” at the NW champion (Parkers Prairie) at 6 p.m., Monday for the first game of a best-of-three series before hosting the same team at 5 p.m., Thursday, on Marthaler Field.  If the two teams are 1-1 after that game, a second game would follow at 7 p.m.

The WC Sub-State championship best-of-three series is set to begin Saturday at the winner of Parkers Prairie and Glenwood-Lowry with the second (and third, if necessary) game set for Sunday, July 23 at the home field of the winner between the SE (Redwood Falls) and SW (KMS) champion.

The WC Sub-State includes Ashby, Benson-Hancock, Brooten, Cottonwood, Granite Falls, KMS, Sacred Heart, Madison, Glenwood-Lowry, Montevideo, Morris, Parkers Prairie, Sauk Centre, Wheaton, Breckenridge, Prinsburg and Bird Island.

The State Division II Legion Baseball Tourney is set for July 27-29, Aug. 3 at Roseau.

Glen-Lowry 6-3, B-H 4-1

The Glenwood-Lowry Legion team swept a twinbill from Benson-Hancock, July 6 at home, to close out the regular-season, 6-4 and 3-1.

In the first game, B-H led 2-0 after its first at-bat, but the Lakers took a 4-2 lead after two innings only to have the visitors rally to tie it up with single runs in the third and fifth innings.

In the sixth, Jack Majerus led off with a single and Alex Panitzke reached on an error.  Both runners came home on a fielder’s choice and error as all six of Glenwood-Lowry’s runs were unearned.

Dylan Alexander went 2-for-4 with a run, three RBI, two stolen bases and a two-run homer in the second.  Majerus also was 2-for-4 with two runs, while Panitzke had his team’s fifth hit and Noah Jensen reached three times on two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Panitzke improved to 2-1 for the season with the complete-game win.  He allowed five hits, four unearned runs and three walks while striking out six.

•  In the second game, B-H took an early lead again with a run in the first, but Glenwood-Lowry countered with two runs in the bottom-half of the first and one more run in the third for a 3-1 victory.

Dylan Alexander went the distance on the mound for the win, giving up just two hits, one unearned run and one walk over five innings with five strikeouts.

Offensively, Alexander, Noah Jensen and Riley Dell had the only hits for the Lakers and Jack Majerus and Alex Panitzke coaxed walks.

In the first, Jensen singled home Panitzke before scoring on an RBI-single by Riley Dell, while in the third inning, Majerus had a one-out walk, stole second, went to third on a groundout and home on a single by Alexander.

Glen-Low 10, Sauk Cen 0

The Lakers won their playoff opener at home over Sauk Centre last Monday night, 10-0.  PJ Johnson was the main weapon for Glenwood-Lowry.  Johnson not only pitched five innings of one-hit ball to earn the victory, but he was also 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBI, two doubles and a triple.

The third through fifth batters for the Lakers (Dylan Alexander, Noah Jensen and Johnson) went a combined 8-for-10 with seven runs and eight RBI.

Jensen was 2-for-3 with four runs, four RBI, a walk, double and three-run homer in the third while Alexander was 2-for-3 with three runs and also reached back when hit-by-a-pitch.

Glenwood-Lowry scored two in the first, three in the third and fourth innings and two more in the sixth to end the game with one out in the bottom-half of the sixth inning due to the 10-run rule.

Also coming through with hits for the Lakers were Jack Majerus and Alex Panitzke, while Levi Johnson reached base three times on walks.

PJ Johnson struck out six batters in his five innings of work to improve to 5-1 overall this season, while Panitzke came in to pitch a scoreless sixth inning.

Glen-Low 11, Brooten 3

Glenwood-Lowry beat Brooten for the third time in the last eight days with an 11-3 victory at home, Thursday night at Marthaler Field.

The win pushed the Lakers into the NE pod championship game, Saturday, with a chance to earn a berth into the district “Final Four.”

The win was the seventh-straight victory for Glenwood-Lowry and the 12th win in the last 14 games.

PJ Johnson earned the win, improving to 6-1 on the mound.  He gave up six hits and one earned run over six innings with seven strikeouts before giving way to Alex Panitzke, who gave up one more run in the seventh inning.

Offensively, four players had two hits each for Glenwood-Lowry and all four had a double each.

Jack Majerus was 2-for-4 with a run, three RBI, a double and stolen base, while PJ Johnson was 2-for-4 with a run and RBI-double, Connor Erickson was 2-for-2 with a run, two RBI, a double and walk, and Dylan Alexander was also 2-for-4 with two runs, a double and solo homer in the fifth.

Noah Jensen also walked three times and scored two runs, while Levi Johnson scored twice and Austin Ballhagen coaxed a bases-loaded walk in the sixth before coming home later on a double by Majerus.

Glen-Low 6, Brooten 5

The Glenwood-Lowry Legion was down to its final out before PJ Johnson hit a two-out triple to send two runs home to tie the game and, one batter later, Connor Erickson singled home Johnson with the winning run as the Lakers won the NE “pod” Tourney over Brooten, Saturday, 6-5, to earn a berth in the upcoming “Final Four” Tourney with a chance to advance to the state tourney.

The Lakers, who won despite being outhit 11-8, got two hits each from Dylan Alexander, PJ Johnson and Connor Erickson along with 13 walks and two players who were hit-by-a-pitch.

The game was tied 2-2 after three innings, but Brooten took a 4-3 lead after four and 5-3 lead after six innings.

Down to their final inning, Jack Majerus led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second when Alex Panitzke was hit-by-a-pitch.  After a strikeout and fielder’s choice gave Brooten the first two outs of the inning, PJ Johnson hit a 2-1 pitch to centerfield for a triple, scoring Panitzke and Noah Jensen to tie up the game.

Levi Johnson coaxed a walk and stole second before Erickson hit a 1-1 fastball for a single to leftfield to score PJ Johnson with the winning run.

Majerus, the third pitcher for the Lakers, earned the victory after pitching the final 1 1/3 innings and giving up just two hits and one walk.  Ryland Martin and Panitzke also saw time on the mound.

Also coming through with hits for the Lakers were Majerus (also three walks) and Levi Johnson (also walk and hbp), while Austin Ballhagen walked three times and Noah Jensen walked twice.

at Glen-Low 6, Ben-Han 4

B-H 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 — 4 5 4

Glen-Low (11-5) 1 3 0 0 0 2 x — 6 5 5

HITTING:  G-L-Jack Majerus 2-for-4, 2 runs; Dylan Alexander 2-for-4, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR, 2 sb; Alex Panitzke 1-for-4, 2 runs, RBI, double; Noah Jensen 0-for-1, 2 bb, hbp, sb; Riley Dell RBI, bb; Ryland Martin 0-for-2, 1 run, bb; Austin Ballhagen 0-for-2, hbp, sac

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  G-L-Alex Panitzke (W, 2-1)  7-5-4-0-3-6 . . . B-H-Lenz 3-3-4-0-1-3; Claussen (L)  3-2-2-0-3-4

——————————————————-

at Glen-Lowry 3, B-H 1

Ben-Han 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 2 1

Glen-Lowry (12-5) 2 0 1 0 x — 3 3 1

HITTING:  G-L-Dylan Alexander 1-for-2, RBI; Noah Jensen 1-for-2, 1 run, RBI; Riley Dell 1-for-2, RBI; Jack Majerus 0-for-1, sb, bb; Alex Panitzke 0-for-1, 1 run, bb

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  G-L-Dylan Alexander (W, 2-0)  5-2-1-0-1-5 . . . B-H-Schroeder (L)  2 2/3-2-3-3-2-1; Ver Steeg  1 1/3-1-0-0-0-2

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at Glen-Low 10, Sauk C 0

Sauk Centre 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 3

Glen-Lowry (13-5) 2 0 3 3 0 2 — 10 10 0

HITTING:  G-L-PJ Johnson 4-for-4, 4 RBI, 2 doubles, triple; Dylan Alexander 2-for-3, 3 runs, hbp; Noah Jensen 2-for-3, 4 runs, 4 RBI, double, HR, bb; Jack Majerus 1-for-3, 2 runs, sb; Alex Panitzke 1-for-3, sac, sb; Levi Johnson 0-for-1, 3 bb; Austin Ballhagen 0-for-3, RBI, hbp

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  G-L-PJ Johnson (W, 5-1)  5-1-0-0-0-6; Alex Panitzke 1-2-0-0-0-1 . . . SC-Middendorf (L)  3 2/3-7-8-3-2-2; Dickinson  1 2/3-3-2-2-3-4

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at Glen-Low 11, Brooten 3

Brooten 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 — 3 7 4

Glen-Low (14-5) 4 0 1 0 5 1 x — 11 8 1

HITTING:  G-L-Jack Majerus 2-for-4, 1 run, 3 RBI, double, sb; Dylan Alexander 2-for-4, 2 runs, RBI, double, HR; PJ Johnson 2-for-4, 1 run, RBI, double; Connor Erickson 2-for-2, 1 run, 2 RBI, double, bb; Noah Jensen 0-for-1, 2 runs, 3 bb, sb; Levi Johnson 0-for-3, 2 runs, sac, sb; Austin Ballhagen 0-for-2, 1 run, RBI, bb

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  G-L-PJ Johnson (W, 6-1)  6-6-2-1-1-7; Alex Panitzke 1-1-1-1-2-1 . . BROOT-L. Illies (L)  1-2-4-0-1-1; K. Deroo 5-6-7-6-5-4

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at Glen-Low 6, Brooten 5

Brooten 0 0 2 2 0 1 0 — 5 11 0

Glen-Low (15-5) 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 6 8 2

HITTING:  G-L-Dylan Alexander 2-for-5, 2 RBI, double, sb; PJ Johnson 2-for-4, 1 run, 2 RBI, bb, triple; Connor Erickson 2-for-4, 2 RBI, bb, double; Jack Majerus 1-for-2, 2 runs, 3 bb, 2 sb; Levi Johnson 1-for-3, 1 run, bb, hbp, sb; Austin Ballhagen 0-for-1, 3 bb; Alex Panitzke 0-for-3, bb, hbp; Noah Jensen 0-for-3, 1 run, 2 bb; 

PITCHING:  G-L-Ryland Martin 3 1/3-5-4-2-2-1; Alex Panitzke 2 1/3-4-1-1-1-3; Jack Majerus (W, 1-1)  1 1/3-2-0-0-1-0 . . BROOT-H. Sobiech 1-1-1-1-3-2; L. Illies 5-5-2-2-8-4; B. Deroo (L)  2/3-2-3-3-2-1

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