Class B State Legion: Velva eliminates defending champs

July 30, 2010

Velva's Nathan Dean slides into second base as LaMoure's Tyler Thielges tries to turn a double play Friday.

GRAFTON, N.D. – There will be a new state champion in North Dakota Class B American Legion baseball.

Velva eliminated defending champion LaMoure Post 19 from the State Class B Legion Baseball Tournament on Friday with a 3-2 win behind a strong pitching performance by Garrett Wible.

Wible allowed two runs on five hits while striking out just two batters. He stayed out of trouble most the game except for the top of the seventh. LaMoure put the tying run on second and the winning run on first with two outs, but Wible got Brett Hample to hit a slow roller to third which Dixon Bauer picked up and stepped on third for the final out.

LaMoure’s Aaron Stemen was good on the mound, allowing just seven hits and two earned runs, but LaMoure couldn’t get him much offensive support.

Velva jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Ty Bruner led off with a single, took second on a stolen base and then came around to score on a single by Jon Mack.

Zach Podoll then doubled with two outs to score Mack for the 2-0 lead.
LaMoure got on the board in the fourth inning after a terrific throw from center-fielder Chad Limesand cut down a Velva runner at home in the bottom of the third.

Cole Gentzkow walked with two outs, and then Gaige Dunn advanced him to third with a ground ball that took a high hop over the second baseman. Aaron Stemen then helped his own cause with an RBI single up the middle. But with runners on first and second, Wible worked his way out of the inning by diving to snag a line drive off the bat of Devin Olson.

Velva quickly got that run back in the bottom of the inning thanks to two errors by LaMoure on routine groundballs.

LaMoure plated its final run in the sixth inning on Gaige Dunn’s no-doubt solo home run deep over the right-field fence.

LaMoure’s season comes to a close while Velva moves to play Saturday in another loser-out game.

In the other loser-out game Friday, Casselton used a nine-run third inning to eliminate Washburn by a score of 10-4 in the day’s first game.

The four remaining teams are Casselton and Velva, which each have one loss, and Munich and Grafton, which meet Friday night in a championship qualifying game.

Velva 3, LaMoure 2
LAM 000 101 0 - 2 5 2
VEL 200 100 x - 3 7 0
W – Wible (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 SO). L – A. Stemen (6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO)
Highlights: LAM – Dunn 2-3, R, RBI, HR; A. Stemen 1-3; Young 1-2; Thielges 1-3. VEL – Bruner 2-4, R; J. Mack 3-3, R, 2 RBI; Podoll 1-2, RBI; Moch 1-3.