Legion baseball: Alexandria wins Grand Rapids tournament

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The Alexandria Post 87 Legion baseball team posed with its first-place trophy after winning the Grand Rapids Tournament in six games over the weekend. (Contributed photo.)

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The Fat Daddy’s Alexandria American Legion Post 87 baseball team won the final five games of this past weekend to take the Grand Rapids Tournament title.

Alexandria bounced back from a 3-2 loss to Maplewood in the pool-play opener by allowing just 10 runs over the next five games. That carried Post 87 through pool play before beating Farmington 5-4 in the championship after a 6-2 win over New Ulm in the semifinals.

“It was an awesome all-around effort by the guys,” head coach Kevin Engebretson said. “It was fun to find some success on the field early on in the summer against some very good competition.”

Beau Backhaus and AJ Anderson teamed up on the mound to secure the tournament title for Alexandria. Backhaus started and went the first five innings, striking out six. He allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits and no walks.

Anderson came on in the sixth and picked up the two-inning save without allowing a hit. He hit a guy and walked a guy in his first inning before catcher Pat Leary executed a pitch-out on a snap throw that got the runner at first. Anderson struck out the next guy he faced and sat down Farmington in order in the seventh to finish off the game.

Alexandria took a 5-3 lead in the fourth off some timely hitting. Leary had an infield base hit that tied the game at three. Two batters later, Zach Peterson got his second double of the game to drive in two runs and give his team a lead it never relinquished.

“It was an all-around great team win and a very well played tournament for all of our guys,” Engebretson said. “It was fun to see them come together and gel as a team. Our pitching and defense were superb all weekend, and we executed with the small ball and hit just well enough to win.”

Alexandria had its arms come through all weekend. Logan Serum didn’t allow an earned run in a complete-game win over new Ulm in the semifinals. Nick Knoblach went the distance in a 4-2 win over Farmington in the final game of pool play and Blake Stockert and Backhaus did the same in 5-1 wins over Lino Lakes and St. Michael-Albertville, respectively.

Engebretson viewed his pitching staff as the strength of this team coming into the summer. Post 87 went out and showed why in Grand Rapids, allowing just four earned runs in the six games.

Alexandria will now turn its attention to this weekend after being a late addition to the Fargo-Moorhead Invitational. Alexandria is guaranteed five games in Moorhead and adjusted its schedule this week to get some much-needed rest for its players.

Post 87 had a nine-inning league game against Perham on Tuesday night and canceled their doubleheader with Little Falls tonight, Wednesday, due to a pile-up of games.

GAME STATISTICS

FARMINGTON 000 310 0 – 4 5 1

ALEXANDRIA 110 300 X – 5 6 2

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Backhaus – W, 5IP, 5H, 4R, 2ER, 0BB, 6SO; AJ Anderson – S, 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 1HB, 2SO

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE – Anderson – 1-3, 2B, RBI; Gideon Burnham – BB, 1 run; Knoblach – 1 run; Backhaus – 2-2, 1 run, RBI; Leary – 1-2, RBI; Grant Becker – 1 run; Zach Peterson – 2-3, 2 2B, 1 run, 2 RBI

NEW ULM GOLD 000 020 0 – 2 7 1

ALEXANDRIA 111 030 X – 6 10 2

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Serum – W, 7IP, 7H, 2R, 0ER, 3BB, 3SO

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE – Anderson – 2-4, 2 runs; Burnham – 2-2, BB, 1 run, RBI; Erich Murphy – 1-2, BB, RBI; Leary – 1-3, RBI; Becker – 2-4, 1 run, 2 RBI; Blake Stockert – BB, 1 run; Peterson – 2-4, 2 2B, 1 run

ALEXANDRIA 220 000 0 – 4 8 4

FARMINGTON 101 000 0 – 2 5 0

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Knoblach – W, 7IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 4BB, 3SO

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE – Anderson – 2-3, 2B, RBI; Murphy – 1-2; Knoblach – 1-4, 2 runs; Becker – 1-3; Christian Anderson – 1-3; Peterson – RBI; Ben Kluver – 2-4, 1 run, 2 RBI; Kris Setterstrom – BB, 1 run

ALEXANDRIA 010 040 0 – 5 5 1

LINO LAKES 000 010 0 – 4 1 3

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Stockert – W, 7IP, 4H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 6SO

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE – AJ Anderson – 1 run; Murphy – 1 run; Knoblach – 1-4, 1 run; Backhaus – 2-3, 1 run; Leary – RBI; Becker – 1-1; Stockert – 1-3, RBI; Peterson – 1 run

STMA 000 010 0 – 1 3 1

ALEXANDRIA 103 010 X – 5 10 1

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Backhaus – W, 7IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 7SO

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE – AJ Anderson – 3-3, HR, 2B, 2 runs, 4 RBI; Serum – 1-3; Murphy – 2-3, RBI; Knoblach – 3-4, 2 2B, 2 runs; Peterson – 1 run; Setterstrom – 1-2

MAPLEWOOD GREEN 100 002 0 – 3 5 1

ALEXANDRIA 000 100 1 – 2 6 1

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Anderson – L, 7IP, 5H, 3R, 1ER, 1BB, 3 HB, 8SO

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE – Burnham – RBI; Murphy – 1-3, 2B, 1 run; Knoblach – 1-4; Backhaus – 1-2; C. Anderson – 1-1, 1 run; Stockert – 2-3

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, american, legion, baseball