Baseball roundup: A blustery first win for LQPV Eagles

Apr. 14—MADISON — In a blustery season-opener, why not let the elements work in your favor?

That was the mindset for Lac qui Parle Valley third baseman Kaden Molden in the Eagles' first game in brisk mid-40s temperatures and 15 mile-per-hour winds.

Molden finished 2-for-2 with a pair of two-run doubles in LQPV's 11-9 Camden Conference victory over Ortonville on Friday at Madison Memorial Field. The game was shortened to six innings due to darkness.

"I was sitting middle-to-outside," said Molden, a junior left-handed hitter. "The wind was pushing to the left so I was hoping to get a pitch on the outside edge and push it to left field and let the wind do the work for me."

The victory was the first for new LQPV head coach Darby Bjorgan. He replaces Bart Hill, who retired after 25 years as the Eagles' head coach.

"We'll take the win as it comes," Bjorgan said. "There's still a lot we need to clean up."

The Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning after a three-run home run by Conner Danielson.

In the bottom of the frame, on the very first pitch, the Eagles' Davis Patzer used the stiff wind to his advantage with a leadoff solo home run. That sparked a three-run inning for LQPV to tie the game back up.

"We were feeling pretty good," Molden said about Patzer's home run energizing the dugout.

Molden's first hit was a line drive up the middle that scored Patzer and TJ Mitchell. Then in the third, he knocked the ball to the opposite field to score Patzer and Dyllon Geiser.

"That two-strike hit he hit opposite field, that was all wrists," Bjorgan said. "He just waited on that ball and let it travel. And he had some pop on that."

Patzer finished with two hits and three runs scored. Dylan Keimig, the No. 9 hitter, went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. He also got the save after striking out two over the final 1-1/3 innings.

Brock Bjornjeld picked up the win after tossing 2-1/3 innings of relief. The two teams used a total of seven pitchers.

"We are a pretty young team and we have young pitchers who have never thrown at the varsity level," Molden said. "It's good to get 'em up and get through this game."

LQPV is back at Madison at 5 p.m. Tuesday against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

Ortonville 311 130-9 9 1

LQPV 343 01x-11 7 1

Hitting — Ortonville: Dru Boots 2-5 2b r-2 sb, Carter Brown 2-5 r-2 rbi-2 sb-2, Hunter Merritt 0-2 bb-3 r, Carter Lee 1-3 2b rbi, Conner Danielson 2-3 hr r-2 rbi-3 sb, Braxton Brandriet 1-2 2b rbi, Cadyn Vanderwal 1-2 r bb, Ellis Longnecker 0-0 bb r ... LQPV: Davis Patzer 2-3 hr r-3 rbi, Dyllon Geiser 1-4 r-2 bb sb, TJ Mitchell 0-1 r-2 sb-2, Cael Benson 0-1 bb rbi, Kaden Molden 2-2 2b-2 r-2 rbi-4 bb hbp sb-2, Kaden Mortenson 0-1 rbi bb hbp-2, Dylan Keimig 2-3 2b r-2 sb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Ortonville: Merritt (L) 2-4-7-7-3-3, Boots 2.2-4-4-4-2-2, Brown 0.1-0-0-0-3-1 ... LQPV: Mortenson 1.2-4-4-4-2-3, Brock Bjornjeld (W) 2.1-5-2-2-2-3, Patzer 0.2-0-3-3-4-1, Keimig (Sv) 1.1-0-0-0-0-2

New London-Spicer opened the season by lashing out 13 hits to beat Dassel-Cokato at Saints Field in Dassel.

Bennett Schultz went 4-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs for the Wildcats, who also got two hits apiece from Aedan Andresen and Carson McCain.

NLS is scheduled to play Litchfield at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Green Lake Diamonds in Spicer.

NLS 330 332 1-15 13 3

Dassel-Cokato 110 105 0-8 11 2

Hitting — NLS: Aedan Andresen 2-2 r-4 rbi-3 bb-3, Luke Knudsen 1-4 r-2 bb, Bennett Schultz 4-4 r-3 rbi-4, Gavin Degner 1-3 r bb, Chi Schneider 0-1 r bb, Carson McCain 2-2 r rbi, Gabe Rohman 0-2 bb, Eli Jacobson 1-2 r, Cole Dolezal 1-3, Fischer Glauvitz 0-2 r, Brayden Skindelien 1-4 r ... Dassel-Cokato: Olthoff 2-4 r rbi bb, Seaberg 2-5 r rbi-2, Gustafson 1-5 r rbi-2, Veith 1-1, Lang 2-4 r, Kelly 0-3 r bb, Koelln 2-3 r-2 bb, Yanke 1-3 r, bb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — NLS: Konnor Rohloff (W) 4-6-3-2-1-3, Reid Holmquist 2-3-5-2-3-3, Degner 1-2-0-0-0-0 ... Dassel-Cokato: Helget 1-1-3-2-2-0, Koelln (L) 1-1-3-1-2-1, Pokornowski 1-0-0-0-1-1, Zeidler 1-2-3-2-1-4, Massingham 1-4-3-3-1-2, Schrupp 1-3-2-2-0-1, Olthoff 1-2-1-1-1-1

Montevideo scored six runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth to beat Yellow Medicine East at Montevideo.

Landon Olson went 3-for-3 with a double, two runs and five RBIs for the Thunder Hawks. Bradon Snell, Jackson Baldwin and Luke Kuno all added two hits for Montevideo.

Jake Odegard went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for the Sting.

Montevideo's next game is scheduled to be a West Central Conference doubleheader against Morris/Chokio-Alberta. The Thunder Hawks and Tigers will play at 11 a.m. Thursday at First National Bank Field in River Falls, Wisconsin.

YME is host to Ortonville at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Richter Field in Granite Falls in a Camden Conference game.

YME 000 310 0-4 6 2

Montevideo 020 650 x-13 13 0

Hitting — YME: Nahum Tarin 1-2 r rbi, Jake Odegard 2-4 r-2 2b rbi-2, Cody Dahlager 1-3 3b rbi r, Bryce Sneller 1-4 2b bb-3 r, Owen Torvick 1-2 ... Montevideo: Ethan Moravetz 1-2 bb r-2, Mason Jerve 1-3 2b r, Bradon Snell 2-3 2b-2 rbi r-2, Gannon Reidinger 2-3 rbi r-2, Jackson Baldwin 2-3 2b rbi-4 r bb, Luke Kuno 2-2 2b r-2, Landon Olson 3-3 2b rbi-5 r-2

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — YME: Sneller 2-2-2-2-1-3, Drew Almich (L) 2-6-6-3-0-0, Odegard 1-0-0-0-0-1, Connor Fagen 1-5-6-5-1-2 ... Montevideo: Cooper Dack (W) 3-0-0-0-2-5, Snell 3-1-1-1-3-6, Reidinger 1-5-3-3-1-2

BOLD dropped its season opener against New Ulm Cathedral at Johnson Park in New Ulm.

The Warriors allowed six hits and 11 walks. Cathedral got a pair of hits from Kyle Seidl and Levi Franta. Seidl went 2-for-2 with two runs and two walks. Franta hit 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored.

BOLD's Tate Sheehan went 2-for-2 with an RBI, run and a walk. Hunter Malvin also scored a run for the Warriors.

Cathedral's Logan Mielke earned the win on the mound. He threw six strikeouts, allowing four hits and two runs in five innings.

BOLD is scheduled to host a doubleheader against Benson at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Bird Island.

BOLD 100 100 0-2 5 3

NUC 314 010 x-9 6 2

Hitting — BOLD: Tate Sheehan 2-2 r rbi bb, Jack Kaiser 1-3, Lane Osterfeld 1-1, Hunter Malvin 1-3 r ... NUC: Jake Finstad 0-2 r-3 bb-2, Kyle Seidl 2-2 r-2 bb-2, Levi Franta 2-4 r rbi-3, Carter Haala 0-2 r rbi bb, Logan Mielke 1-3 rbi-2 bb, Brock Wellman 0-4 rbi, Colin Anderson 1-2 r bb, Matt Seidl 0-2 r bb

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — BOLD: Sam Sigurdson (L) 1-2-4-4-5-0, Daylan Weber 3-2-4-0-4-2, Sheehan 2-2-1-1-2-2 ... NUC: Logan Mielke (W) 5-4-2-2-4-6, K. Seidl 1-1-0-0-0-0