Amateur baseball roundup: Bullpen shines for Willmar Rails

Joe Brown, Tom Elliott, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·7 min read

Jun. 4—WILLMAR — The Willmar Rails' bullpen came through with six scoreless innings to come away with a 3-1 exhibition victory against the St. Joseph Joes in amateur baseball action at Bill Taunton Stadium.

Christian Lessman tossed the first three innings for the Rails. He accounted for every out in that span with nine strikeouts, allowing one unearned run with one hit and two walks surrendered.

From there, the trio of Zach Reierson, Adam Herman and Jack Baumgart kept St. Joseph off the board. Reierson was credited with the win while Baumgart struck out two over two innings to collect the save.

Willmar got on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the second with Jayden Dierenfeld and Gunnar Banks both reaching home. The Rails tacked on an insurance run in the third on an RBI single by Baumgart that brought in Caleb Owens.

Banks was 2-for-2 with a walk to lead Willmar's offense. Peyton Joos led the Joes, going 2-for-4.

The Rails go on the road Wednesday for a Corn Belt League game against the Wabasso Jax.

St. Joseph 001 000 000-1 8 2

Willmar 021 000 000-3 6 1

Hitting — St. Joseph: Tanner Blommer 1-3 bb-2, Andrew Rott 1-4 2b, Sam Schneider 1-5, Lukas Theisen 1-4, Peyton Joos 2-4, John Huebsch 1-4, Blake Kilanowski 1-3, Hunter Blommer 0-3 r bb-2 ... Willmar: Jack Baumgart 1-2 rbi bb sb, Jayden Dierenfeld 1-1 2b r bb, Gunnar Banks 2-2 r bb, Christian Lessman 1-3 rbi, Josh Tinklenberg 1-2, Caleb Owens 0-3 r bb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — St. Joseph: Kilanowski (L) 3-3-3-3-4-5, Schneider 5-3-0-0-4-5 ... Willmar: Lessman 3-1-1-0-2-9, Zach Reierson 2-4-0-0-0-1, Adam Herman 2-1-0-0-1-1, Baumgart (Sv) 2-2-0-0-1-2

The Rosen Express scored five runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to beat the Redfield Pheasants in an exhibition at Redfield, South Dakota.

Rosen plays at 2 p.m. Sunday at Cottonwood against the Cardinals.

Racking up 15 strikeouts in a complete-game victory, Caleb Ditmarson pushed the Raymond Rockets to a Corn Belt League win over the Bird Island Bullfrogs at Lilleberg Field in Raymond.

Ditmarson, a right-handed pitcher who wrapped up his senior season at the University of Sioux Falls, held Bird Island to two hits and one walk.

Tyler Steen and Tanner Bauman each had two hits for the Rockets. Eli Nelson was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Isaac Call finished 1-for-4 with an RBI.

The Bullfrogs took the loss despite a strong effort on the mound by Casey Lewandowski. He stuck out five and limited Raymond to five hits and one walk over seven innings.

Bird Island 000 000 000-0 2 5

Raymond 100 010 000-2 7 0

Hitting — Bird Island: Trent Athmann 1-3 bb, Tyler Hebrink 1-4 ... Raymond: Eli Nelson 1-3 r bb, Tyler Steen 2-4 sb, Isaac Call 1-4 rbi, Tanner Bauman 2-3 sb, Mike Jeseritz 1-2, Paxton Nelson 0-3 r sb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Bird Island: Casey Lewandowski (L) 7-5-2-1-1-5, Dylan Gass 1-2-0-0-0-1 ... Raymond: Caleb Ditmarson (W) 9-2-0-0-1-15

Ayden Gustafson threw a complete-game shutout for the Sacred Heart Saints in a Corn Belt League win over the Granite Falls Kilowatts at Sacred Heart.

Gustafson struck out nine while holding Granite Falls to five hits and two walks.

Jose Ortiz was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Saints. Kevon Strommer drove in two runs, finishing 1-for-3.

Kyle TeBeest finished 2-for-4 for the Kilowatts. Adam Brewers was charged with the loss.

Granite Falls 000 000 000-0 5 3

Sacred Heart 001 000 200-3 6 1

Hitting — Granite Falls: Kyle TeBeest 2-4 sb, Cotlon Vien 2-4, Jordan Odegard 1-4 ... Sacred Heart: Ryan Hebrink 0-4 r, Jose Ortiz 2-4 2b rbi, Tyler Froland 1-3, Nate Hebrink 2-3 r sb, Mike Kuschel 0-3 r, Kevin Strommer 1-3 rbi-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Granite Falls: Adam Brewers (L) 6-5-2-0-0-5, Bennett Knapper 1-1-0-0-0-1 ... Sacred Heart: Ayden Gustafson (W) 9-5-0-0-2-9

Joey Hyde and Jack Amhun combined on a six-hitter to lead the Litchfield Blues past the Delano Athletics at Optimist Park in Litchfield.

Hyde started and went 5-1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked no one, allowing four hits. Amhun came on for the save, going the last 3- 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked one allowing two hits.

Cody Klabunde went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Carson Deal was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI for the Blues.

Jake Nelson went 2-for-4 with a stolen base for Delano.

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Litchfield 000 210 00x-3 9 1

Hitting — Delano: Brady Miller 1-4, Toby Hanson 1-4, Jake Nelson 2-4 sb, James Otto 0-3 bb, Matt Carson 1-4, Nate Norman 1-3 ... Litchfield: Cody Klabunde 3-5 RBI, Andrew Loch 1-5, Eric Hulterstrum 1-4, Drew Kotzer 0-3 r-2 hbp, Ben Alsleben 0-3 bb, Avery Liestman 1-3 r rbi bb sb, Carson Deal 2-3 rbi bb, Bennett Lecher 1-4

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Delano: Jeremy Maschino (L) 3.1-2-2-2-4-5, Jackson Royer 4.2-7-1-1-0-4 ... Litchfield: Joey Hyde (W) 5.1-4-0-0-0-3, Jack Amhun (Sv) 3.2-2-0-0-1-6

Ryan Olmscheid's two-out RBI single scored Ethan Vogt from second base and gave the Elrosa Saints the walk-off win over the Greenwald Cubs in 10 innings at Saints Field in Elrosa.

It was Olmscheid's only hit as Elrosa got eight impressive innings from Payton Van Beck. Van Beck struck out 15, walked one and allowed six hits and one run. Vogt, the former University of Minnesota Gopher, finished the game to get the win. He gave up one run in two innings, striking out four and walking no one. He allowed two hits. At the plate, Vogt homered, going 1-for-3 with two walks.

Kevin Kuefler went 3-for-5 to lead the Saints. Matt Schmitz and Jackson Peter were each 2-for-4 for the Saints.

Sam Frieler was 3-for-4 with a run for Greenwald.

Greenwald 000 010 001 0-2 8 1

Elrosa 100 100 000 1-3 11 2

Hitting — Greenwald: Brett Engelmeyer 2-5 2b rbi, Trent Engelmeyer 2-5 r sb, Tyler Hoffman 1-4 rbi, Sam Frieler 3-4 r ... Elrosa: Kevin Kuefler 3-5, Matt Schmitz 2-4 2b r bb, Jackson Peter 2-4 2b, Peyton Winter 1-4 rbi bb, Ethan Vogt 1-3 hr r rbi bb-2, Andrew Weller 1-5, Ryan Olmscheid 1-5 rbi, Wyatt Steffensen 0-0 r sb-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Greenwald: Hoffman (L) 9.2-11-3-3-5-7 ... Elrosa: Payton Van Beck 8-6-1-1-1-15, Vogt (W) 2-2-1-1-0-4

Dumont 6, Madison 4

The Dumont Saints scored two in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Madison Mallards at Dawson.

Dumont is now 3-0 in the Land O' Ducks League.