BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONS — Members of the Fairmont Cardinal baseball team capturing the Big South Conference championship with a win over Luverne on Saturday at Herb Wolf Field include, front row (l-r): Cameron Schmidtke, Joseph Hackett, Tavian Harvey, Josh Soelter, Joe Long and Nate Soelter. Middle row: Skyler Aukes, Lincoln Becker, Levi Pooley, Cooper Steuber, Brandon Koch, Mac Larson, Brendan Schmidtke and Tyler Kurt. Back row: Assistant coach Matt Lytle, assistant coach Levi Becker, Jack Kosbab, Landen Meyerdirk, Parker Mathiason, Carson Pomerenke, Ben Moeller, Nolan Anderson, Trevor Maakestad, manager Hudson Laven and head coach Don Waletich. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Cardinals baseball team showed why it’s ranked No. 1 in Class AA on Saturday afternoon, beating the Luverne Cardinals 5-1 to win the outright Big South Conference championship at Herb Wolf Field in Fairmont.

Fairmont, the winner of the conference’s Big School Division, hosted Luverne, the winner of the Small School Division, for bragging rights on a sunny and warm Saturday afternoon.

Fairmont brought a 15-1 overall record into the game and Luverne was 14-3. The two teams met back on April 10 with Fairmont pulling out an 8-3 extra-inning win over Luverne and there is a chance these two can meet a third time this season in the Section 3AA playoffs.

“They’re in our section, so we could meet down the road,” Fairmont head coach Don Waletich said. “This was a nice win today. We played good defense, not committing an error, and we had some timely hits off a good pitcher (Conner Connell).”

Fairmont jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the second inning.

Cooper Steuber singled, moved to second base on a bunt single by Brendan Schmidtke and scored when it was thrown away. Schmidtke beat the throw to first and advanced to second on the error.

Fairmont made it 3-0 when Jack Kosbab’s grounder was misplayed and thrown away, allowing two runs to score in the fifth.

That would be enough run support starting pitcher Nate Soelter would need. Soelter kept Luverne’s offense in check, limiting them to only three hits in his 6 1/3 innings pitched. Soelter was the winning pitcher and Schmidtke pitched 2/3s of an inning to pick up a save.

Nate Soelter gave up one earned run, walked three, hit one batter and struck out three.

With a runner on first, Schmidtke coaxed a foul pop up to first and struck out the final batter of the game.

Connell suffered the loss, pitching 5 1/3 innings, giving up five runs — three earned — on four hits, no walks and struck out six. Carter Sehr pitched the final 2/3s of an inning for Luverne and had an inning-ending double play turned behind him.

Luverne scored its only run in the sixth after loading the bases with one out, but couldn’t score another run.

Fairmont scored two insurance runs in the sixth, thanks to a two-out Landen Meyerdirk’s two-run double.

“We had some success against a very good pitcher,” Waletich said.

Nate Soelter had two hits to lead Fairmont, while Meyerdirk, Steuber and Schmidtke had one hit apiece for the home team. They benefitted from five Luverne errors.

Fairmont travels to Fox Lake Sports Complex in Welcome on Monday to face Martin County West in a regular-season non-league finale.

Fairmont (16-1) also awaits the results of this week’s seeding meet for the Section 3AA tournament that begins on Saturday. The Cardinals will likely play host to a four-team pod playoff at Herb Wolf Field.

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Conner Connell (LP), Carter Sehr (6) and Patrick Kroski. Nate Soelter (WP), Brendan Schmidtke (7, Sv) and Joseph Hackett.

LOB–Luverne 7, Fairmont 6. 2B–Landen Meyerdirk (FMT).