The Worthington American Legion baseball team played four games this weekend at a tournament in Rochester, winning one and losing three.
Worthington played three of the four games on Saturday, and each of those games were scheduled for five innings. In the first of those contests, Post 5 blanked Renner, S.D. 7-0. Tucker Brandner had a strong outing on the mound in that one, allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out 11 batters. Brandner also went 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored, as did Manny Saravia. Austin Gruis and Max Ostrem were each 1-for-3 with two RBIS, and Chase Byrne and Dawson Svalland both collected a hit and RBI as well.
In Worthington’s second game of the day, Post 5 trailed by just 2-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth, but North St. Paul benefitted from a couple of errors and scored three times, then held on for a 5-1 victory. Ostrem pitched for Worthington and struck out six while allowing three earned runs. Gruis crushed a long home run to right field for the lone Post 5 run.
Tournament host Rochester Century then rolled past Worthington, 18-3, in a game that Post 5 actually led 3-2 in the second. Then, in a game on Sunday, Worthington was edged on a walk-off in the bottom of the seventh by Rice Lake, Wis., 6-5. Worthington had a lot of hard-hit outs in the game, coach Austin Nunez said. Ostrem drove in two runs for Post 5, and Byrne and Brandner each had RBIs.
Worthington, now 4-7 on the year, is scheduled to play at Minnesota on Monday. It is then off until July 9, when the team plays at Luverne.
