Glenwood-Lowry earns return trip to State Legion Tourney
Sports | Published on July 29, 2024 at 2:41pm CDT
The Glenwood-Lowry Legion baseball team went 4-1 last week to win the West Central Sub-State title. G-L, which improved to 21-5 for the season, will return to the State Legion Division II Tourney, set for Aug. 2-4 at Bird Island.
Glenwood-Lowry won three games to win the Pod playoffs and then beat Parkers Prairie twice last week, 1-0 and 10-6 to earn a berth in the championship best-of-three series with Montevideo, Saturday and Sunday.
Glenwood-Lowry lost to Montevideo in the first game at Montevideo, Saturday (2-0), but the Lakers came back with two-straight wins, Sunday at home, 2-0 and 3-1.
• 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.
• Last year at the State Legion Tourney, the G-L Legion went 1-2 to place fourth, beating DGF in the first game (8-1), but losing two-straight games on walk-off hits to EV-Watkins (2-1) and LaCrescent (6-4).
The Glenwood-Lowry Legion has now earned three state berth in the last four years. The team lost two close games in 2021 before going 1-2 last summer.
• The roster list for this year’s G-L Legion team, coached by Joe Alexander and Jeff Panitzke and 13-1 in its last 14 games, includes Austin Ballhagen, Marc Gruber, Connor Frey, Riley Dell, Zach Gugisberg, PJ Johnson, Jack Majerus, Levi Johnson, Connor Erickson, Alex Panitzke, Ryland Martin, Dylan Alexander, Aron Majerus, Nathan Dell, Ethan Jacobs, Noah Jensen, Evan Friese and Caden Larson.
Glen-Lowry 1, Par Pr 0
PJ Johnson spun a complete-game shutout to help the Glenwood-Lowry move one step closer to a return to the State Legion Tourney. Johnson allowed just four hits and four walks in leading the Lakers to a 1-0 victory over Parkers Prairie in the first game of a best-of-three series last Monday at home.
Glenwood-Lowry meanwhile, also had four hits along with one walk and two hit batsmen.
G-L had two of those hits in the second inning, but failed to score. Dylan Alexander had a one-out single in the fourth, but was caught stealing.
Glenwood-Lowry finally came through with the only run of the game in the fifth. Connor Erickson was hit-by-a-pitch, went to second on a walk to Austin Ballhagen, was sacrificed to third by Levi Johnson and then came home on another perfect sacrifice bunt by Nathan Dell.
G-L had two more runners on base with one out in the sixth, but ended the inning with two fly balls to the outfield.
Parkers Prairie left one runner on base in the first and second innings and two in the sixth.
In its final at-bat, Parkers Prairie had two-straight singles with one out and both runners advanced with stolen bases.
A foul popup to third base got the second out and then, after a walk loaded the bases, G-L got the final out of the game on a grounder to short.
Glen-Low 10, Par Prair 6
The middle of the Glenwood-Lowry lineup went 12-for-17 with seven runs and seven RBI to lead the Lakers to a 10-6 win at Parkers Prairie, Thursday, putting G-L in the championship series of the Sub-state playoffs.
Connor Erickson was 4-for-4 with a run, double and three RBI, while Dylan Alexander was 3-for-4 with three runs, a walk and RBI, Noah Jensen was 3-for-5 with a run and RBI, and PJ Johnson went 2-for-4 with two more runs, two RBI and a sacrifice fly.
Those four have lit up the scoreboard all summer, helping G-L win its 11th-straight game and improve to 19-4 with its latest win.
Glenwood-Lowry led 7-1 after 4 1/2 innings, but Parkers Prairie scored four in the fifth to close the gap to 7-5.
G-L added two more runs in the sixth and, after PP scored its final run in the bottom-half of the sixth, the Lakers scored one more insurance run in the seventh.
Picking up the win for G-L, which outhit the home team 16-6, was Ryland Martin, who improved to 6-1 on the mound this summer. He pitched the first four innings, giving up two hits, one run and two walks before being relieved by Nathan Dell and Alex Panitzke.
Jack Majerus, Panitzke, Austin Ballhagen and Levi Johnson also had hits for Glenwood-Lowry, which is two wins away from a repeat trip to state.
Monte 2, Glen-Lowry 0
Montevideo scored two runs in the third inning and that would be just enough to win the first game of the best-of-three series, Saturday morning at Montevideo.
PJ Johnson pitched a complete game seven-hitter, but still took his first loss of the season. Montevideo’s pitcher also went the distance and neither pitched issued a walk.
Jack Majerus, Dylan Alexander, PJ Johnson and Levi Johnson had hits for the Lakers, who were put down in order in the first three innings.
Glen-Lowry 2, Monte 0
The Lakers moved within one win of another state berth with a 2-0 victory over Montevideo during the first game of what would end up being a doubleheader at home, Sunday.
The Lakers broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the fifth and Ryland Martin pitched a complete game, five-hit shutout with nine strikeouts to put Glenwood-Lowry in the final championship game later Sunday.
Offensively, G-L had just three hits, but also took advantage of three walks. Jack Majerus had the big hit, a two-run single in the fifth, while Austin Ballhagen was 1-for-2 with a run, Levi Johnson was 1-for-1 with a run and walk, and Nathan Dell walked twice.
In the fifth, Ballhagen singled with two outs, went to second on a single by Johnson and to third on a walk to Dell.
Majerus’ single plated the winning runs and those three hits ended up being the only hits of the game for G-L. The bottom of the order came through for G-L, going 2-for-3 with two runs and three walks.
Glen-Lowry 3, Monte 1
Alex Panitzke picked up the win on the mound and went 3-for-3 with a run to lead the Lakers to a 3-1 win over Montevideo in the championship game, Sunday.
G-L scored all three of its runs in the first inning and then left it up to Panitzke, who had relief help from Marc Gruber, to maintain that lead
Panitzke gave up five hits and just one run over the first four innings and Gruber pitched three innings of perfect baseball to earn the save.
Dylan Alexander, Noah Jensen and Austin Ballhagen also had hits for the Lakers. Panitzke hit a one-out single in the first, went to second on a single by Alexander and home on a double by Jensen.
Alexander came home on a grounder to short by PJ Johnson and Jensen scored on an error one batter later.
at Glen-Lowry 1, Par Pr 0
Par Prairie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 1
Glen-Lowry (18-4) 0 0 0 0 1 0 x — 1 4 0
HITTING: G-L-Noah Jensen 2-for-2, double, hbp; Dylan Alexander 1-for-3; Connor Erickson 1-for-2, run, hbp; Nathan Dell 0-for-1, RBI, sac; Levi Johnson 0-for-1, sac; Austin Ballhagen 0-for-1, bb . . . PP-four with one hit each
PITCHING: (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): G-L-PJ Johnson (W, 5-0) 7-4-0-0-4-4 . . PP-S Sansness (L) 6-4-1-1-1-1
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Glen-Lowry 10, at Par P 6
Glen-Lowry (19-4) 0 1 2 0 4 2 1 — 10 16 3
Par Prairie 0 1 0 0 4 1 0 — 6 6 1
HITTING: G-L-Connor Erickson 4-for-4, run, 3 RBI, double; Dylan Alexander 3-for-4, 3 runs, RBI, bb, double; Noah Jensen 3-for-5, run, RBI; PJ Johnson 2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, sacfly; Jack Majerus 1-for-4, run, sac; Alex Panitzke 1-for-4, run, hbp; Austin Ballhagen 1-for-3, RBI, bb; Levi Johnson 1-for-4, RBI . . . PP-D. Revering 2-for-4, run, RBI, 2 doubles; Z. Mrnak 2-for-2, run, RBI, 2 bb
PITCHING: (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): G-L-Ryland Martin (W, 6-1) 4-2-1-1-2-0; Nathan Dell 2-4-5-0-1-1; Alex Panitzke 1-0-0-0-2-1. . PP-N. Steidl (L) 3-7-3-3-0-2; D. Debilzen 2-6-4-4-0-2; H. Truax 2-3-3-2-3-1
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at Monte 2, Glen-Low 0
Glen-Lowry (19-5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 0
Montevideo 0 0 2 0 0 0 x — 2 7 2
HITTING: G-L-Jack Majerus 1-for-3; Dylan Alexander 1-for-3; PJ Johnson 1-for-3; Levi Johnson 1-for-2; Connor Frey 0-for-0, hbp . . . MONTE-G. Epema 2-for-3
PITCHING: (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): G-L-PJ Johnson (L, 5-1) 6-7-2-2-0-4 . . MONTE-G. Epema (W) 7-4-0-0-0-7
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at Glen-Lowry 2, Monte 0
Monte 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 5 0
Glen-Lowry (20-5) 0 0 0 0 2 0 x — 2 3 1
HITTING: G-L-Jack Majerus 1-for-3, 2 RBI; Austin Ballhagen 1-for-2, run; Levi Johnson 1-for-1, run, bb; Nathan Dell 0-for-0, 2 bb. . . MONTE-B. Dack 2-for-3
PITCHING: (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): G-L-Ryland Martin (W, 7-1) 7-5-0-0-3-9 . . MONTE-C. Dack (L) 6-3-2-2-3-8
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at Glen-Lowry 3, Monte 1
Montevideo 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 5 2
Glenwood-L (21-5) 3 0 0 0 0 0 x — 3 6 0
HITTING: G-L-Alex Panitzke 3-for-3, run; Dylan Alexander 1-for-3, run; Noah Jensen 1-for-3, run, RBI, double; PJ Johnson 0-for-3, RBI; Austin Ballhagen 1-for-3. . . MONTE-five with one hit each
PITCHING: (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): G-L-Alex Panitzke (W, 3-1); Marc Gruber 3-0-0-0-0-0 . . MONTE-B. Dack (L) 6-6-3-2-1-5
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