The Starbuck Stars were eliminated from the Region 4C Amateur Baseball Tourney with two losses this past weekend at Willmar.  The Stars, who earned a berth in the region tourney by placing third in the County Line League playoffs, lost a heartbreaker to Raymond in the opener, Saturday, 2-1, and then were sent packing for the summer with a 9-2 loss to Atwater, Sunday.

The Stars, coached by Bob Hendrickson and Mike Andreas, ended the 2024 season with an overall record of 10-12, which included a 7-3 mark in the County Line League to place second behind Regal.

The loss to Raymond was the second defeat to the Rockets this season, while the Stars were also 1-3 against the Chuckers this summer.

Raymond and Bird Island, who have already clinched state berths, will play in the Region 4C championship game, Friday night, while Paynesville, Atwater, Marshall and Milroy all have one loss and are still in the running for the final state berth from the region.

The 9-team Region 4C Tourney,  which also included Norway Lake-Sunburg and Granite Falls, was set to conclude Aug. 9-11.

Raymond 2, Stars 1

Raymond scored the winning run with two outs in the bottom-half of the ninth to earn a 2-1 walk-off win over Starbuck during the opening round of the Region 4C Amateur Baseball Tourney, Saturday at Willmar.

The Stars moved into the consolation round to face Atwater, Sunday, while Raymond moved on to play Marshall in the semifinals, Sunday.

Austin Ver Steeg pitched the entire game for the Stars.  He allowed just five hits, two runs, which were both unearned, and four walks while striking out 16 Raymond batters.

Yes, of the 26 outs for Raymond during the game, 16 came via strikeouts by the Stars’ ace.

Starbuck scored the first run of the game in the third when Mike Andreas reached on a walk and came home later on an RBI-hit by Matt Gruber, who was 2-for-4.

Raymond tied it up with a run in the fourth and then got the gamewinner with two outs in the ninth.

Aaron Ver Steeg was also 2-for-4 for the Stars, while Austin Friese, Nick Lavasseur and Mitch Gruber also had hits for the Stars.

Both team’s pitchers were on the mark during the game as Raymond’s pitchers combined for seven strikeouts and only one walk while Ver Steeg gave up just four walks and one hit-by-pitch.  

Ver Steeg totaled 167 pitches for the game, including 103 for strikes.  Raymond left nine runners on base and the Stars left six.

Atwater 9, Stars 2

Atwater broke open a close 2-1 game through three innings with four runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to earn a 9-2 victory over Starbuck and advance in the Region 4C playoffs.

Atwater, which outhit the Stars, 16-9, got three of those hits from K. Holtz, who was 3-for-5 with three RBI.

Darion Alexander, who took the loss on the mound, was 2-for-5 with an RBI, while Aaron Ver Steeg was 2-for-5 with a run and double, and Mike Andreas was 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Stars’ offense.

Alexander pitched the first 3 2/3 innings before giving way to Nick Lavasseur, Mitch Gruber and Colin Richards.

Also coming through with hits for the Stars were Austin Ver Steeg, Lavasseur and Gruber.

Raymond 2, Starbuck 1 

Stars (10-11) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 7 3

Raymond 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 — 2 5 1

HITTING:  STARS-Matt Gruber 2-for-4, RBI, double; Aaron Ver Steeg 2-for-4; Austin Friese 1-for-4; Nick Lavasseur 1-for-3; Mitch Gruber 1-for-2, sac; Mike Andreas 0-for-3, bb, run  . . . RAY-B. Kieuitz 2-for-3, RBI, sb; T. Steen 2-for-3, 2 bb

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  STARS-Austin Ver Steeg (L, 5-3)  8  2/3-5-2-0-4-16  . . . RAY-J. Sawanson 7-7-1-1-1-5; I. Koosman (W)  2-0-0-0-0-2

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Atwater 9, Stars 2

Stars (10-12) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 2 9 0

Atwater 1 0 1 4 3 0 0 0 x — 9 16 2

HITTING:  STARS-Darion Alexander 2-for-5, RBI; Aaron Ver Steeg 2-for-5, run, double; Mike Andreas 2-for-4, RBI; Austin Ver Steeg 1-for-5; Nick Lavasseur 1-for-4; Mitch Gruber 1-for-4, run  . . . ATWATER-K. Holtz 3-for-5, 3 RBI; five others with two hits each and three with one hit each

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  STARS-Darion Alexander (L, 1-3)  3 2/3-8-6-6-2-1; Nick Lavasseur 2/3-5-3-3-0-1; Mitch Gruber 1 2/3-1-0-0-0-3; Colin Richards 2-2-0-0-1-3 . . . ATWATER-J. Kingery 3-3-1-1-0-0; J. Olson (W) 5-4-0-0-1-4; C. McCain 1-2-1-1-0-1

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