AHEAD OF THE THROW — Winnebago Post 82/Blue Earth Post 89 runner Parker Meyers slides safely into third base on the heels of Anthony Carr’s single during Division II, Southwest Sub-State first-round American Legion baseball action Thursday in Wabasso. Pipestone Post 6 third baseman Riley Bosma makes a late diving tag. (Photo by Kyle McAreavy)

WABASSO — For the first two innings, it was a dual of stud starting pitchers. Then Winnebago American Legion Post 82/Blue Earth Post 89 broke the game open in the third.

Winnebago/Blue Earth beat Pipestone Post 6 during Division II, Southwest Sub-State baseball tournament first-round action, 9-4, Thursday in Wabasso.

With the win, WBE (14-1) moves on to face United South Central at 5 p.m. today at City Field in Wabasso. USC defeated Jackson, 6-1, to advance in the unbeaten bracket.

Pipestone starting pitcher Austin Johnson opened the game with four consecutive strikeouts, then earned three more outs on flyouts to set down the first seven WBE batters he faced, then Parker Meyers broke the perfect-game bid with a flair single to center.

Anthony Carr followed with a perfect hit-and-run ground ball through the left side of the infield to put runners on first and third before Adam Schavey hit a high-hopping ground ball to short for an RBI groundout.

Kean Hicks walked, then Keegan O’Brien smacked a two-run double on an 0-2 pitch over the Pipestone right fielder’s head to put WBE up 3-0.

Logan O’Hara continued his scorching hitting streak at the plate, scalding his fourth home run in WBE’s past four games over the left-center field wall for two more runs.

Posts 82/89 then added another run in the bottom of the fourth when Carr golfed a homer directly over the 329-foot sign in left field.

“I think the big thing is we finally made him (Johnson) pitch out of the stretch,” WBE head coach Paul Nienaber said of his team’s offensive explosion. “When he was out of the windup, he was really, really tough to hit. I think when he was out of the stretch, it just lowered his velocity a mile or two per hour and it allowed us to time him up.”

O’Hara also continued his dominance from the mound, starting the game with five innings of shutout work, allowing only two hits, one walk and two hit batters, but Pipestone started to time him in the sixth.

Cole Lueck led off the inning reaching base when he was hit by a pitch, then Dawson Schelhaas reached base on an error, but was erased on a fielder’s choice that left runners on first and third with one out.

O’Hara struck out the next batter, but Connor Zephier, Kaden Musch and Connor Holt each knocked RBI singles to bring the game within 6-3.

The hits led to a WBE pitching change to Taylor Davids, who struck out the final batter of the frame on three pitches, before pitching a one-run seventh on two walks and a single for the save.

“We keep bringing it,” Nienaber said. “The kid they threw at us first is a legit pitcher. I love that we kept our heads, we didn’t try to do anything we shouldn’t do and when we got a chance, we took advantage of it. It was big, it was a good performance.”

WBE added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Ryan Madetzke and Luke Mertens singled, then Parker Meyers brought both in and rounded the bases on a single, complemented by two errors.

Meyers’ singled to left to score Madetzke’s courtesy runner, Will Howard, then Mertens reached third when the throw to try to catch him traveled to the backstop. Mertens sprinted toward the plate, where another errant throw traveled down the first base line, which allowed Meyers to complete his 360-foot trip around the bases.

Carr had a home run, two singles and two RBIs, while Meyers had two singles and an RBI. O’Hara homered, O’Brien had a double and two RBIs and Madetzke and Mertens both singled.

“Whatever the guys had for breakfast today, have it again tomorrow,” Nienaber said with a laugh. “Whatever we’re doing right now is working. We just need to keep bringing the energy, keep bringing the effort and we’ll be good.”

PIPE 000 003 1 — 4 6 2

WBE 005 103 x — 9 9 1

Austin Johnson (LP), Connor Zephier (4) and Cole Lueck. Logan O’Hara (WP), Taylor Davids (6, Sv) and Ryan Madetzke.

LOB–PIPE 9, WBE 2. 2B–Keegan O’Brien (WBE). HR–Logan O’Hara (WBE), Anthony Carr (WBE).

Division I

Regular Season

Fairmont 9, New Ulm 2 — Jacob Crissinger pitched five shutout innings and teammate Eli Anderson went 3-for-4 with a triple and three runs scored to guide Post 36 to a seven-run victory over New Ulm during regular-season action Thursday night at Johnson Park in New Ulm.

Crissinger recorded a game-high seven strikeouts and issued only one walk in hurling five scoreless innings of two-hit baseball to earn the win.

Anderson produced three hits, including a triple, to top Fairmont’s nine-hit offensive performance, while teammate Jack Kosbab doubled en route to generating a game-high four RBIs.

Cooper Steuber went 2-for-3 with one run scored for Post 36, while Levi Pooley tripled, collected one RBI and scored two runs on the game.

Landen Meyerdirk went 1-for-3 with one RBI, Brendan Schmidtke singled and Aden Welcome scored twice to cap Fairmont’s winning performance.

Preston Vaughn allowed two runs on two hits, walked four and struck out one in two innings of relief for Post 36.

Fairmont plated a solo run in the top of the second inning, added one in the fourth, scored three more in the fifth, notched one in the sixth and erupted for three insurance runs in the seventh to seal the victory.

Fairmont Post 36 opens the Division I, Southwest Sub-State Tournament against New Ulm Gold at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 21, in Sleepy Eye.