Luverne Wins First Round Playoff Battle over Tracy

(Luverne) – The Gopher League playoffs opened Wednesday night down in Luverne and the Tracy Express lost in the first round against the top seeded Luverne Redbirds 3-0.

Luverne got out to an early 1-0, lead in the game in the first inning, after Tony Sanbulte singled and stole second base, he then moved to third on the throw which hopped into center field.  Phil Paquette then drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right, to give the Redbirds the early lead.

That was all Luverne starter Andrew DeBoer would need, as he struck out 11, in a complete game shutout victory.  Calvin Kosminskas started for Tracy, and he threw well, but gave up two runs in six innings while striking out six.  Kosminskas was tagged with the loss.  Both Luke Walling and Tylan Gylling threw an inning of relief for the Express in the game.

Tracy had early chances as well, in the top of the first inning Troy Kepler had a one out single, he moved to second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch.  Eric Hendrickx hit a fly ball to right, but Kepler was thrown out at the plate on a great throw from Luverne right fielder Taylor VanSanten, ending the Express threat.

Kosminskas shut the Redbirds down after that.  He left the game for Luke Walling in the seventh, when Pacquette and Zach Olson strung back to back hits together to score their third run.

Jensen and Bryan Francis led the Express offense.  Jensen was 2-5 in the game, while Francis finished 2-4.  Brady Webb, Hendrickx, and Kepler had the other Express hits.

The loss for the Express means they will play for survival on Friday night in Wilmont at 7:30. 

Express                             AB          R             H             RBI        

Dane Jensen 2b                 5            0             2                0
Troy Kepler cf                    5            0             1                0
Robbie Slinkman c            2             0             0                0
Eric Hendrickx 3b             4             0             1                0
Calvin Kosminskas p        2             0             0                0
 Luke Walling p                0             0             0                0
 Jason Minett ph              1             0             0                0
 Tylan Gylling p                0             0             0                0
Andy Lanoue ss                3            0              0                0
Bryan Francis 1b              4             0             2                0
Aaron Walling rf              3             0             0                0
Brady Webb lf                 4             0              1                0

2b: (L) Dinger; O’Connell; Olson (T)none;  3b: none; HR: none  SB: Sanbulte; Olson CS: none     

Calvin Kosminskas (L)          6       9      2       2         1        6

Luke Walling                        1       2      1       1         0        2

Tylan Gylling                        1       1      0       0         0        1