VFW baseball: Alexandria is tournament runner-up

• Becker

Lori Mork, Echo Press Delano needed help from two fielders to try and tag out Grant Becker (19) as he stole second base in the first game of the Alexandria VFW baseball tournament last weekend. Alexandria went 3-1 in the tourney, falling to Osakis 14-4 in the championship.

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Alexandria battled Delano, Blaine and Irondale to reach the championship game of its own VFW tournament last weekend, only to fall to Osakis for the title.

ALEXANDRIA 7,

DELANO 6

Alexandria opened tournament play Friday with a back-and-forth 7-6 victory over Delano.

Picking up a 3-0 lead after three innings, Alex saw Delano begin to mount a comeback, scoring a run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth to tie the game.

In the bottom of the fifth, Alexandria regained the lead with a run, but once again Delano knotted things up with a run of their own, and again Alex pushed them back, scoring once in the bottom of the sixth.

Delano’s first lead of the game came in the top of the seventh as they scored a pair of runs, taking a 6-5 lead, but Alexandria used a hit batter, an error on a fielder’s choice, a double and a sacrifice fly to score the two runs needed for the win

Grant Becker had a pair of hits in the game, with Christian Anderson scoring three runs.

Chris Leary earned the win on the mound in relief of Jake Booth.

ALEXANDRIA 5,

BLAINE 1

Game two was less stressful for the VFW as they defeated Blaine 5-1.

Neither team was able to get on the board until the third, when Alexandria picked up an unearned run. Blaine tied the game in the top of the fourth as pitcher Blake Stocker gave up three consecutive singles.

It was in the fifth that Alexandria put the game away, scoring four runs on just two hits and two walks, and aided by an error and several passed balls.

Stockert got the complete game victory as he allowed just two hits while striking out five.

ALEXANDRIA 9,

IRONDALE 2

An early lead by Irondale didn’t hold up as Alexandria was able to battle back for a 9-8 win in the semifinals.

Zach Peterson made sure Alexandria was back in the game as he led off the bottom of the first with a single, and scored on an RBI by Jeff Swedberg.

The local VFW then tied the game in the second, combining a walk, a stolen base and an error to score.

Five runs in the third by Irondale put Alexandria in a 7-2 hole, then they added a solo run in the fourth to go up by six 8-2.

Alexandria began its comeback in the fifth as they scored one run as Grant Becker knocked out a triple.

They then added their own five-run inning to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, scoring all five runs with two outs.

Cody McLaughlin capped the scoring bonanza with a double.

Alexandria came away with the win as Leary walked, stole second and scored the walk-off run as Swedberg singled him home.

Parker Bowden picked up the victory as he pitched the final three frames, allowing just one hit, striking out three and walking two.

Swedberg led the offense with four hits, while Christian Anderson and Becker had two hits each.

OSAKIS 14,

ALEXANDRIA 4

Alexandria saw an early lead fade away as Osakis earned a 14-4 win in the championship game.

It was Alexandria taking the early lead as the team scored a pair of runs in the first as Swedberg, Leary and McLaughlin singled.

Osakis exploded for five runs in the fourth inning as the squad combined five hits, a walk and two errors for the runs.

Alexandria answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, closing to 5-4 on a pair of singles and an Anderson triple.

In the fifth, Osakis scored a run to improve to 6-4 and added another three runs in the sixth to stretch that lead to 9-4.

Osakis put the game out of reach in the seventh, scoring five more runs.

Mitchell Thompson took the loss in his start on the mound, while Jordan Fredrick picked up the win for Osakis.

Alexandria got three hits from McLaughlin and two from Anderson, while Osakis was led by Doug Zimmel, Fredrick, Ben Anderson and Mitch Herzog.

GAME STATISTICS

DELANO 000 121 2 6-6-5

ALEXANDRIA 102 011 2 7-7-1

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Jake Booth 5.1-5-4-X-2-1. Chris Leary (W) 1.2-4-2-X-2-1.

HITTING – Mitch Thompson 1-3, 1 bb, 1 run; Jeff Swedberg 1-3, 1 run; Cody McLaughlin 1-4, 1 run; Blake Stockert 1-2; Christian Anderson 1-4, 3 runs; Grant Becker 2-3, 1 bb, 1 run.

BLAINE 000 100 0 1-2-3

ALEXANDRIA 001 040 X 5-3-1

PITCHING – Blake Stockert (W) 7-2-1-X-2-5.

HITTING – Mitch Thompson 1-2, 1 run, 1 bb; Jeff Swedberg 1-3, 1 run; Blake Stockert 1 bb; Grant Becker 1-2, 1 run; Zach Peterson 1 run, 1 bb; Drew Winter 1-1, 1 run, 1bb.

IRONDALE 205 100 0 8-8-5

ALEXANDRIA 110 015 1 9-11-3

PITCHING – Toby Helgeson 3-6-7-X-1-3. Drew Winter 1-2-10X-0-1. Parker Bowden 3-1-0-0-2-3.

HITTING – Zach Peterson 2-5, 1 run, 2b; Jeff Swedberg 4-5, 1 run, 2b; Aaron Steidl 1-2, 1 run; Christian Anderson 2-4, 1 run; Grant Becker 2-3, 2 runs, 3b; Parker Bowden 1-4, 1 run; Riley Hvezda 1 run; Cody McLaughlin 1-1, 1b; Chris Leary 1 run.

OSAKIS 000 513 5 14-13-2

ALEXANDRIA 200 200 0 4-9-6

PITCHING – Jordan Fredrick (W) 7-9-4-X-0-3; Mitchell Thompson (L) 3.2-6-5-X-3-4; Chris Leary 1.2-3-4-X-1-1; Parker Bowden 1.1-4-5-X-1-1.

OSAKIS – Lane Berberich 1-3, 2 runs, 2 bb; Ky Zimmel 1-1, 2 runs, 1 bb; Drew Fearing 1-3, 2 runs, 1 bb; Doug Zimmel 2-5, 2 runs, 2b; Jordan Fredrick 2-5, 2 runs, 2b; Ben Anderson 2-5, 1 run; Devin Waldvogel 1-5, 1 run; Grayson Fortenberry 1-5, 1 run; Mitch Herzog 2-5, 1 run, 2b.

ALEXANDRIA – Zach Peterson 1-4, 1 run; Jeff Swedberg 1-3, 1 run; Patrick Leary 1-4; Cody McLaughlin 3-3, 2b; Grant Becker 1-3, 1 run; Christian Anderson 2-2, 1 run, 3b.

Tags: alexandria sports, area sports, osakis sports, sports, baseball, vfw, tournament