Lonsdale bounces back from loss to eliminate Montgomery

The Lonsdale Aces bounced back from a first-round loss to Morristown by beating Montgomery with two runs in the bottom of the ninth to stay alive in the Region 4C tournament in Montgomery last weekend.

The Morristown Morries and Blue Earth Pirates of the 13-60 League each won two straight games while Lonsdale and Waterville Indians have one loss each. All four teams are scheduled to play again on Saturday, Aug. 15.

The Region 4C results last week:

Saturday, August 8

Morristown 3,

Lonsdale 2

The Morries scored twice as Josh Vollbrecht drove in two runs with a second-inning single and scored an unearned run in the fourth during a 3-2 win over Lonsdale.

The Aces came back with a leadoff homer by Tom Popp in the seventh and narrowed it to a run in the ninth as Popp was hit by a pitch, Jaron Christenson ran and advanced on a Kevin Kalina single and a bunt and scored on an RBI grounder by Mike Jirik. But Kalina was stranded at third at the final out.

Brent Vollbrecht pitched the distance for Morristown in the win.

Blue Earth 7,

Montgomery 2

A five-run fifth inning by the Pirates was the difference as Blue Earth defeated Montgomery, 7-2.

Five hits during the inning plus a hit batter and a walk moved Blue Earth into a commanding lead.

T.J. Stallman connected for a grand slam homer during the inning.

Blue Earth's first two runs came on a first-inning double by Aaron Wendt and an RBI single by T.J. Schmidtke in the fifth inning.

Nick Worm homered for Monty with the singling Tom Flicek on base in the sixth inning for a 2-2 score.

Stallman and Schmidtke were the leading batters for the Pirates.

Lee Hodges was the starting and winning pitcher.

He also hit a double along with Wendt and Daniel Woodall.

Jesse Pues and Drew Fautsch hit doubles for Montgomery.

Waterville 4,

Cleveland 3

John Masberg opened with a double in the last of the ninth, Riley Schultz ran and scored later on a fielder's choice by Josh Berndt as Waterville scored a run in the ninth to edge the Cleveland Condors, 4-3.

Sunday, August 8

Lonsdale 4,

Montgomery 3

The Aces won in the last of the ninth, scoring two runs to defeat and eliminate Montgomery, 4-3.

Two of Montgomery's runs came on sacrifice flys by Josh Kuchinka, - in the second and eighth innings. In the seventh, Tom Flicek singled, John Krocak doubled and Jesse Pues singled for the other run.

Chad Vosejpka homered for the Aces first run in the fourth inning.

In the sixth, Tom Popp hit a double, advanced on Kevin Kalina's singled and scored on an error.

In the last of the ninth, Derek Vosejpka singled; Mike Jirik, the winning pitcher in relief, hit into a fielder's choice; Paul Tisdel singled; and Ryan Van Dusen hit a double, one run scoring and the other came across on a throwing error on the same play.

Morristown 2,

Cleveland 1

The Morries won their second one-run game, 2-1.

Cleveland scored its lone run on a bases-loaded walk.

Blue Earth 10,

Waterville 9

Waterville, with a 9-7 lead, appeared headed for an upset win, but lost in the last of the ninth.

Blue Earth posted its second win of the tourney with a three-run rally for a 10-9 win.

This weekend:

The Saturday, Aug. 15 schedule has Morristown playing Blue Earth at 1 p.m., Lonsdale meeting Waterville at 4 p.m., and the winner of the Lonsdale-Waterville game playing the loser of the Morristown-Blue Earth game at 7 p.m.

The winner of the Morristown-Blue Earth game plays in the finals on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. against the winner of Saturday's 7 p.m. game.

If a second game is needed on Sunday, it would be played at 6 p.m.