WELCOME — Martin County West Mavericks seniors Colton Leiding and Jesse Spear both played a vital role in getting their final wins at Fox Lake Sports Complex on Thursday.

Leiding went 3-for-4 — including two doubles — and scored a run, while Jesse Spear recorded three hits and pitched the Mavericks to a 7-1 Valley Conference win against the Nicollet Raiders.

“Jesse Spear pitched a great game for his last performance on the mound,” Mavericks first-year head coach Phil Rotunda said. “Colton is our best hitter that we’ve had all year long. He’s hitting over .400 for the season. He gets the ball in play, and he’s speedy.”

Jesse Spear and the Mavericks started with a strong defensive effort, retiring the first three batters faced.

Leiding led off the bottom half of the first inning with a double, but was left stranded when the Raiders got all three outs in order.

The Mavericks and Raiders held each other scoreless for three innings before the Mavericks took a lead they maintained. Jesse Spear dropped a single into right field to get the home team started in the bottom of the fourth.

Noah Ringnell then added a hit and stole a base to put two Mavericks in scoring position. Jesse Spear put up the team’s first run on Zac Spear’s sacrifice fly. Ringnell chipped in run No. 2 on Cam Dressen’s hit. Dressen tried for an extra base, but was tagged out sliding into second.

Raiders pitcher Ean Thomsen then struck out Kooper Janssen to end the inning.

“Those two runs — just getting any runs on the board — lets you relax and to know that you have a lead is huge,” Rotunda said. “That five-run inning took a lot more pressure off our shoulders.”

Leiding led off the bottom of the fifth with a double before Payton Anderson got a base hit. Both were able to score on a Mavericks error that got Wyatt Geistfeld on base.

Geistfeld later used another Raiders error to steal two bases. He and Parker Anderson, who singled, made a 6-0 game after scoring on Jesse Spear’s extra base hit.

Colby Williamson, Jesse Spear’s courtesy runner marked the fifth run of the inning, trotting home on Zac Spear’s double.

Hunter Johnson broke the Raiders’ scoring drought and scored the team’s lone run with one out in the sixth inning. Johnson walked to first, swiped a base and scored on Travis Selby’s RBI single.

Jesse Spear gave up a hit to Anthony Macias, but struck out Matt Juberien and Riley Hulke to prevent any more scoring. Noah Ringnell relieved Jesse Spear in the seventh inning, retiring the final three batters for the team victory.

“The kids did a very good job of being able to make the plays and not give them (Riaders) any extra bases,” Rotunda said.

Jesse Spear allowed one run on five hits, walked four and totaled nine strikeouts.

“The one thing we talked about with Jesse is to be aggressive early. He threw strikes, and that makes a difference defensively,” Rotunda said.

Jesse Spear also contributed two RBIs, scored a run and hit a double, while Zac Spear had a hit with two RBIs.

Martin County West (4-12, 3-5 Valley) plays Redwood Valley at 6:30 p.m. today in Redwood Falls.

NIC 000 001 0–1 5 3

MCW 000 250 x–7 12 0

Jesse Spear (WP), Noah Ringnell (7) and Zac Spear. Ean Thomsen (LP) and Hunter Johnson.

LOB–Martin County West 7, Nicollet 7. 2B–Colton Leiding (MCW) 2, Zac Spear (MCW), Jesse Spear (MCW). SF–Zac Spear (MCW).

Martin Luther/GHEC/ Truman 24, Madelia 2 (5 innings) — Ethan Hurn produced three hits, including a two-run triple, a game-high four RBIs and three runs scored to power the Valley Conference champion Jaguars to a 24-2, five-inning rout over the Blackhawks on Thursday in Madelia.

The Jaguars, who generated 18 hits, erupted for 10 first-inning runs, delivered 11 more in the second frame, tallied a solo run in the third and added four in the fourth.

James Schrunk collected three hits, two RBIs and three runs scored for the Jaguars, while Zach Wolter netted two hits, three RBIs and scored twice.

Carter Wille hammered out a two-run triple and an RBI double for the Jaguars, Mitchell Prafke delivered two hits, including a double, and two RBIs to complement three runs scored, while Quintin Greier doubled, singled, drove in two runs and scored once.

Garrett Balcom tallied an RBI double, Zach Jahnz singled and scored twice, Derek Shoen crossed the plate three times, while Micah Hudson scored twice for the victorious visitors.

Paxton Gravlin allowed one unearned run on only two hits, struck out three, walked three and hit one batter in four innings pitched to earn the victory for the Jaguars.

The Jaguars (14-3, 8-0 Valley) travel to New Ulm Cathedral tonight for a 6:30 p.m. non-league game.