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Brummond fires 1-hitter for Fairmont senior leaguers; Martins sweep series with A’s

BLUE EARTH — Daniel Brummond did not have the opportunity to showcase his skills on the mound during his final high school baseball season due to the coronavirus-induced moratorium this spring.

Brummond made up for lost time by retiring 18 consecutive Windom batters to cap a one-hit complete-game gem to steer Fairmont to a 6-1 second-round triumph during a senior league baseball tournament Friday night in Blue Earth.

No. 2-seeded Fairmont (7-1) advances to face No. 4-seeded Jackson in a 2:30 p.m. winners-bracket game today back in Blue Earth. Jackson edged No. 1-seeded Blue Earth, 5-3, in eight innings on Friday night.

No. 7-seeded Windom opens today’s playoff action against Blue Earth at noon.

Ironically, Brummond issued his lone walk of the postseason contest to Kade Sammons to lead off the top of the first before a catcher’s error on an ensuing third strike put Windom runners on the corners.

Conner Redman then produced Windom’s only hit — an RBI single to left — to plate Sammons for a 1-0 lead. Brummond, however, gloved a line-drive comebacker off the bat of Brayden Kreofsky before pegging a throw to second base for a pivotal double play.

“You have to give Brum (Brummond) credit — after a rough start during the first inning, he really settled down and maintained his composure to close out a great pitching performance,” said Fairmont coach Matt Lytle.

Brummond actually plunked Ethan Pohlmann with an offering to start the top of the second inning before recording the first three of 18 consecutive outs to close the near-flawless effort on the mound.

“It all started with him (Brummond) throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count,” said Lytle. “For most part, our defense played fairly solid behind him tonight.”

Fairmont plated five runs in the bottom of the second inning by combining two hits with three Windom errors, one walk and one hit batter, and never trailed for the duration.

Cale Steuber led off with a single, advanced 90 feet on a walk and circled the bases when Carter Bell’s grounder skidded under the second baseman’s glove to knot the game at 1-all.

Eli Anderson reached on an error and Zach Soelter was hit by a pitch by Windom reliever Brady Espenson before Zach Jorgensen drove in a run with a fielder’s choice. Another Fairmont run scored when Windom’s attempt at a double play went awry via a throwing error to first base.

Joey Flohrs, who had singled in Fairmont’s first at-bat, drilled an RBI single to left field to extend the lead to 5-1.

Blake Buntjer later belted a ground-rule double under the left-field fence before courtesy runner Gavin Rodning scored on Jack Hested’s RBI single during the home half of the fifth inning.

Flohrs and Jorgensen each finished with two of Fairmont’s seven hits.

Brummond quieted Windom’s bats during the third through seven innings on the strength of two of his four strikeouts, nine groundouts and four flyouts.

WDM 100 000 0 — 1 1 4

FMT 050 010 x — 6 7 1

Hunter Walklin (LP), Brady Espenson (2), Austin Doorenbos (6) and Ethan Pohlmann. Daniel Brummond (WP) and Blake Buntjer.

LOB–Fairmont 6, Windom 2. 2B–Buntjer (FMT).

Amateur Baseball

Fairmont 2, Pipestone 0 — Closer Adam Schmidt finished what ace right-hander Tyler Tennyson started, while teammates Derek Shoen, Jon Traetow and Tennyson combined for the only runs in the No. 1-seeded Martins’ Game 2 shutout victory over the No. 8-seeded A’s on Friday night in Pipestone.

Fairmont (18-2), which claimed Game 1 by a 12-0 decision in seven innings on Wednesday night at Herb Wolf Field in Fairmont, swept the best-of-3 Region 13C first-round amateur baseball series with Pipestone.

The Martins play host to the No. 4-seeded Milroy Irish in Game 1 of their second-round, best-of-3 regional series at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night back at Herb Wolf Field in Fairmont.

The Milroy Irish, who claimed a 5-4 Game 1 win on Wednesday night, swept the No. 5-seeded Jackson Bulls on the strength of a 9-5 victory in Game 2 on Friday night.

Schmidt recorded three strikeouts without either issuing a walk or allowing a hit in 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory.

Tennyson notched seven strikeouts, hit one batter and issued no walks in 6 1/3 shutout innings to receive no decision. He allowed six hits on the game.

Pipestone ace hurler Brandan Alfson generated a game-best nine strikeouts and did not issue a walk in eight scoreless innings on the mound to receive no decision. Alfson allowed only three hits.

A’s reliever Austin Evans gave up two runs on three hits in 2/3s of an inning of relief to take the loss.

Shoen, who went 2-for-4 on the game, triggered the Martins’ ninth-inning offensive heroics by lining a two-out single. Shoen reached second base on a wild pitch before scoring on Traetow’s RBI single. Traetow then scored on Tennyson’s RBI double.

Schmidt contributed a double offensively, while Levi Becker and Ethan Hurn added one single apiece for Fairmont.

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