Baseball roundup: Levasseur's shutout gives Alexandria a win over No. 9 Princeton

After a 7-2 loss in the first game of a Tuesday doubleheader against No. 9 Princeton, Alexandria controlled game two thanks to a strong game by Nick Levasseur on the mound.

Levasseur pitched a complete game and limited Princeton to four hits and no runs, and he had five strikeouts in what was a 6-0 Alexandria win. Levasseur also went 2-for-3 at the plate in the game with a run and an RBI.

In game two, Alexandria jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a fielder’s choice in the first inning. Alexandria put up three runs in the fourth inning, and solo home runs by Caleb Gimbel and Jordan Kuhnau gave Alexandria a 6-0 win.

In game one, Princeton, who is ranked No. 9 in the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association rankings, jumped out to a 3-0 lead by scoring a run in each of the first three innings.

Alexandria (11-8) cut its deficit to two heading into the sixth inning, but a 3-run sixth inning sealed the 7-2 win for Princeton (12-5). Kuhnau went 2-for-4 at the plate in game one.

Alexandria wraps up the regular season with a game against Little Falls (13-4, 9-0 Section 8AAA) at 5 p.m. at home.

Princeton - 1 1 1 0 1 3 0 - 7 12 0

Alexandria - 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 - 2 5 0 

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE - Tyler Kludt - 1-4, RBI; Caleb Gimbel - 1-3, R; Jordan Kuhnau - 2-4; Jaxon Schoenrock - 0-2, 2 BB; Cameron Simon - 0-3, BB; Spencer Schmidt - 1-1, R, 2 BB

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING - Carter Simonson - 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB, 1 HR; Brady Swensrud - 2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB

Princeton - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 3

Alexandria - 1 0 0 3 2 0 X - 6 8 1

ALEXANDRIA OFFENSE - Tyler Kludt - 1-2, R, RBI, BB; Gage Castle - 0-2, BB; Matthew Hornstein - 1-1; Caleb Gimbel - 1-4, R, HR, 2 RBI; Jordan Kuhnau - 1-3, R, HR, RBI; Wyatt Mohr - 0-1, R, 2 BB; Cameron Simon - 1-3, R; Nick Levasseur - 2-3, R, RBI; Spencer Schmidt - 1-3, RBI

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING - Nick Levasseur - W - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 SO, BB

Eric Morken / Alexandria Echo Press

The Parkers Prairie Panthers earned a big 10-0 win over the Brandon-Evansville Chargers on Tuesday in six innings.

Dylan Debilzen pitched a complete game shutout for Parkers Prairie, striking out eight batters and allowing just three hits.

Parkers Prairie scored in every inning except the fifth.

Dezmond White had two hits for B-E (10-7, 6-6 Section 6A), while Brady Perleberg had the other.

“We didn’t bring the right kind of energy to the ballpark and got beat soundly by a good baseball team,” B-E head coach Brian Perleberg said. “Hopefully, we can learn from some of the things that occurred and build on them. We did get to see Carter White and Lucas Fuller pitch today, both of whom have been idle from the mound for a while. I thought they did just fine, but some costly errors were hard to overcome.”

For Parkers Prairie (13-5, 3-2 Section 6A), Joe Johnson had three hits and two RBIs, while Debilzen had two hits as well.

David Revering, Nolan Stiedl, Cohen Noska, and Shane Nelson also had hits.

B-E plays a home doubleheader on Thursday, first playing Sauk Centre (10-8) at 4 p.m. and then Ottertail Central (15-3) at 6:30 p.m.

Parkers Prairie plays at Browerville-Eagle Valley (10-4, 5-4 Section 6A) at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Brandon-Evansville - 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 

Parkers Prairie - 2 1 2 3 0 2 - 10

Sam Stuve / Alexandria Echo Press

Minnewaska (15-4, 6-3 Section 6AA) earned a pair of nice wins over Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (11-9, 2-6 Section 6AA) on Tuesday, 5-1 and 4-2.

MACA scored a run in the top of the first inning, but that’s all that Minnewaska allowed. PJ Johnson earned the win on the mound with seven strikeouts in six innings pitched.

Dylan Alexander had two hits in the game for Minnewaska.

In game two, Alex Panitzke pitched a complete game and earned the win. He struck out seven.

Noah Jensen had a pair of hits, including a home run. Austin Ballhagen also had two hits.

Minnewaska now awaits its playoff seeding.

MACA - 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 4 3

Minnewaska - 0 0 0 1 2 2 X - 5 6 3

MINNEWASKA OFFENSE - Jack Majerus - 1-4, RBI; Alex Panitzke - 1-4, R; Dylan Alexander - 2-3, R, RBI; Noah Jensen - 1-3, RBI; PJ Johnson - 0-2, BB; Levi Johnson - 0-1, R, 2 BB; Austin Ballhagen - 1-3, R; Thomas Poegel - 0-2, R, BB

MINNEWASKA PITCHING - PJ Johnson - W - 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO; Levi Johnson - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB

Minnewaska - 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 7 1 

MACA - 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 2 4 2 

MINNEWASKA OFFENSE - Alex Panitzke - 1-3; Dylan Alexander - 1-3, R; Noah Jensen - 2-3, R, 2 RBI; Austin Weber - 0-2, R; Levi Johnson - 1-3; Austin Ballhagen - 2-3, R, RBI; Connor Erickson - 0-2, RBI

MINNEWASKA PITCHING - Alex Panitzke - W - 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 7 SO

Sam Stuve / Alexandria Echo Press

A couple of area baseball players have been named to the 2023 Twins Community Fund All-Star Series North team that will be head coached by Alexandria head coach Jake Munsch.

For Alexandria, it’s seniors Jaxon Schoenrock and Matthew Hornstein, who are both committed to play college baseball at Dakota County Technical College.

Minnewaska will be represented by PJ Johnson.

The north team is the defending champions.

The all-star series features games and festivities at Chaska Athletic Park from June 22-24, 2023. Here is a link to the full itinerary.