WINDOM — If there were any doubts, the Fairmont Martins could rest at ease, knowing they made a wise draft choice.

Pipestone draftee Brandan Alfson racked up 14 strikeouts to lead the Martins to a 2-1 win over the Windom Pirates en route to a Region 13C amateur baseball playoff sweep on Friday night at Island Park in Windom.

“Brandan did a nice job. He got ahead of hitters and he finished them. That slider was working pretty darn well today,” Martins player/head coach Levi Becker said.

“He’s a stud,” Martins left fielder Adam Schmidt added.

With the win, Fairmont earned a Class ‘C’ state tournament bid for the sixth time in the last seven years. The Martins await the series winner between Milroy and Hadley and hosts Game 1 of the region championship series at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Herb Wolf Field.

“They’re two good quality teams that we’ve had good games with this year, so it’ll be fun,” Becker said about the upcoming best-of-3 regional championship series.

Sam Huska got a hit off Alfson in the first inning and was the only Pirate to get on base until the seventh inning.

Meanwhile, Pirates pitcher Collin Lovell held the Martins to one hit until the sixth inning. A dropped ball in right field allowed Spencer Chirpich to take first base. Jack Waletich then drew a walk before Tyler Tennyson singled to load the bases.

Chirpich attempted to run home on Tennyson’s single, but went back to third without getting called out. He did eventually produce the score, running home on Adam Schmidt’s sacrifice fly for the 1-0 score.

Lovell struck out Becker and Christian Petschke to leave Waletich and Tennyson stranded for the Martins.

In the bottom of the seventh, Windom’s Luke Gilbertson dropped one into left-center to start the inning. Alfson hit Devin Nielsen with a pitch and walked Jacob Johnson to load the bases with one out. But Alfson held off the Pirates’ scoring by striking out Lovell and Jack Mellstrom to close out the inning.

Waletich drew a one-out walk in the top of the eighth before scoring when Tennyson’s fly ball was dropped.

“Lovell was tough, but Tyler came up with some good at-bats,” Becker said. “We found a way to get a couple runs off him (Lovell). That was huge.”

The Pirates managed to get a run back in the bottom of the inning. Alfson struck out Nathan Adrian and Joel Riordan before walking Danny Kneeland. Gilbertson got a hit, and Huska’s single drove in Kneeland to narrow the score to 2-1.

Down by one, Johnson drew a leadoff walk and moved up 90 feet on Dane Nielsen’s sacrifice bunt. Mellstrom got a base-on-balls for the potential game-winning run, but Adrian grounded out and Alfson struck out Riordan en route to the complete-game victory.

Alfson held the Pirates to one run on four hits, walked four and hit one batter in addition to his 14 strikeouts over nine innings.

Lovell took the loss for Windom, giving up two runs on two hits with 13 strikeouts and three walks in eight innings of work. Dane Nielsen pitched an inning of relief.

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Brandan Alfson (WP) and Spencer Chirpich. Collin Lovell (LP), Dane Nielsen (9) and Danny Kneeland.

LOB–Windom 8, Fairmont 5. 2B–Jack Waletich (F). SAC–Dane Nielsen (W). SF–Adam Schmidt (F).