The Glenwood-Lowry Legion baseball team opened up the season with a bang, playing five games over a four-day span last Friday through Monday, June 14-17.

The team was supposed to get its season going with games against Brooten (June 10) and Parkers Prairie (June 13), but those games were postponed due to the Lakers having a late end to their high school season.

Glenwood-Lowry, which won the West Central Sub-State Tourney last summer to earn a berth at state, went 2-2 at a tournament at Alexandria last Friday through Sunday, losing to Centennial (2-0) and Champlin Park (2-0), but also beating Marshall (8-6) and Becker (4-2).

The Legion team also shut out Osakis last Monday at home, 10-0, giving the team an early 3-2 record.

Glenwood-Lowry was also set to play six games at a tournament at Omaha, Thursday through Saturday, June 20-22, but results of those games will be highlighted next week.

On tap this week is a home doubleheader with Sauk Centre at 5 p.m., Thursday, June 27 and another tournament at Montevideo, Saturday and Sunday.

•  Last year at state, the 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 roster list for this year’s G-L Legion team, coached by Joe Alexander and Jeff Panitzke, 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.  

Opening weekend

The Glenwood-Lowry fell 2-0 to Centennial in the first game of the season, June 14.  Centennial scored single runs in the third and fifth while G-L managed just three hits, one walk and one hit-by-pitch.

Ryland Martin took the loss on the mound despite giving up just three hits and one run over four innings.  Austin Ballhagen and Jack Majerus pitched in relief.  Dylan Alexander, PJ Johnson and Nathan Dell had one hit each for the Lakers while Noah Jensen had a walk and Martin was hit-by-a-pitch.

•  Glenwood-Lowry also lost by a 2-0 score to Champlin in a game later June 14.  Champlin, which outhit the Lakers 5-3, scored runs in the third and fourth innings.

Alex Panitzke was credited with the loss.  He pitched the first six innings, allowing five hits, two runs and four walks while striking out six.  Levi Johnson pitched one inning of scoreless relief.

Coming through with hits for G-L were Panitzke, Austin Ballhagen and Ryland Martin while PJ Johnson had the only walk of the game for the Lakers, who struck out 10 times.

•  The Lakers finally picked up their first win of the season during an 8-6 victory over Marshall during the third game of the tourney, Saturday, June 15. The Lakers went up 6-1 after four innings, but Marshall tied it up with a five-run fifth inning.

G-L came right back in the bottom-half of the inning to go ahead 7-6 and added another run in the sixth.

Dylan Alexander, one of three G-L players with two hits each, was 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBI, a walk and two-run homer in the fourth inning.

PJ Johnson was 2-for-4 with two RBI and Austin Ballhagen also had a great game, going 2-for-2 with two runs, two walks and two stolen bases.

Johnson also earned the pitching victory, giving up three hits and one unearned run over three innings while Nathan Dell earned the save.  The Lakers committed two errors leading to six unearned runs.  Adding one hit each were Noah Jensen and Levi Johnson while Alex Panitzke was 0-for-1 with two runs and three walks, Jack Majerus had an RBI and Ryland Martin walked once.

•  The Lakers ended the tourney with a 4-2 win over Becker.  Jack Majerus went 3-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, a double and two stolen bases, while Austin Ballhagen went the distance on the mound to earn the victory.

The score was 1-1 before G-L scored the go-ahead run in the third when Majerus scored on an error and the Lakers added two insurance runs one inning later on a two-run single by Majerus. Alex Panitzke, Dylan Alexander (double), Nathan Dell (triple) and Aron Majerus also had hits for the Lakers while Ryland Martin and Connor Frey both scored once.

Glen-Low 10, Osakis 0

The Lakers improved to 3-2 for the season with a 10-0 rout of Osakis last Monday night at home.

G-L went up 5-0 after one inning and scored in all but one inning the rest of the way before ending the game with two outs in the bottom-half of the fifth due to the 10-run rule.

Ryland Martin earned the win with relief help from Jack Majerus.  The two pitchers combined to allow eight hits and two walks while striking out five.

Offensively, PJ Johnson went 2-for-3 with a run, three RBI and two doubles to lead an 8-hit offensive attack for the Lakers.

Jack Majerus was 1-for-2 with two runs, an RBI, walk and two stolen bases, while Alex Panitzke was 1-for-2, with three runs, a walk and three stolen bases, Austin Ballhagen was 1-for-3 with an RBI, Nathan Dell was 1-for-3 with  a run and two-run triple, Ryland Martin was 1-for-3 with a run, Caden Larson was 1-for-1 with a stolen base and was also hit-by-a-pitch and Dylan Alexander was 0-for-1 with a run, two RBI, a walk and stolen base.