The Starbuck Jr. Legion is having a great season this year, finishing the regular-season with a 9-6 record, including a 9-3 record in league play.  That earned the team the second seed for the upcoming playoffs, which are set to begin Tuesday (tomorrow).

Starbuck is set to host a game between #7-Long Prairie and #10-Benson at 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 18 before playing the winner at 7 p.m.  If Starbuck wins that game, it would host another game at 6 p.m., Friday, July 21, but if it loses its first playoff game, it would play the rest of the double-elimination tournament at Eden Valley-Watkins.

During the last league competition, last Tuesday versus New London-Spicer, Starbuck lost the first game, 7-5, before coming back to win the second game, 10-3.

During the first game, Riley Dell was 2-for-3 with a double, while Levi Johnson (double), Marc Gruber, Connor Erickson (triple), Luke Danielson and Caden Larsen (double) all had one hit each.  Gruber took the loss on the mound, giving up five hits, four walks and seven unearned runs with four strikeouts.

In the second game, Jackson Holmes earned the pitching victory, giving up six hits, three runs and three walks with three strikeouts, while offensively, Marc Gruber was 2-for-4 with three runs, Noah Jensen was 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBI, and Levi Johnson (two runs), Riley Dell (three RBI) and Caden Larsen (two RBI) also had hits for Starbuck.

Members of the Starbuck Jr. Legion, coached by Chris Lence and Andy Goracke, are Connor Frey, Marc Gruber, Riley Dell, Ben Johnson, Tate Anderson, Braylen Scharmer, Levi Johnson, Connor Erickson, Jackson Holmes, Ethan Jacobs, Tyson Metz, Aron Majerus, Oliver Van DerHagen, Noah Jensen, Caden Larsen, Luke Danielson, Evan Friese and AJ Svec.

The team batting average is .329 with Levi Johnson (.479 batting average), Connor Erickson (.478), Noah Jensen (.474), Connor Frey (.471),  Evan Friese (.464), Riley Dell (.395) and Luke Danielson (.333) leading the team among players with at least 20 at-bats this season.

Four of the players — Friese (.634), Jensen (.611), Johnson (.576) and Frey (.514) — have on-base percentages over .500.

Erickson leads the team with 22 RBI, 24 runs and four triples, while Jensen has three homers, and Erickson, Jensen and Friese all have a team-high five doubles.  Thirteen different pitchers have seen action for the Starbuck Jr. Legion this year, including Erickson and Jackson Holmes who are both 2-1.

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!