Legion baseball dodges showers during what typically is a loaded schedule

After dodging showers to get in part of the Junior Legion Red Haddox Wood Bat Classic the previous weekend, the senior legion teams didn’t have the same success as the annual Bloomington tournament set for June 21-23, which was called due to the recent rainfall.

Richfield Reds hosted both Bloomington Senior Legion squads on Sunday. The Reds swept Bloomington Post 550 Senior 1 by a score of 2-0 and then defeated Bloomington Senior 2 with a score of 12-5, improving to 4-1.

A pair of runs in the fifth inning supported Reds pitcher Drew Lankey, who tossed a two-hit shutout. Lankey didn’t issue a walk while striking out three batters over seven innings.

Sam Leino went 3-for-3, while Cole Nutting went 2-for-2 to spark the Richfield bats.

After Leino’s leadoff single in the fifth inning, Nutting brought in Leino with a hard-hit triple to center field with two outs. Miles Patt brought in Nutting with another line drive hit up the middle to take the 2-0 lead.

Bloomington’s Mason Kobus took the loss, allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out four, and not having issued a walk over five innings.

Teagan Yotter and Nick Manning picked up hits for Bloomington, which went down in order in four of the seven innings.

The Reds regrouped to face Bloomington Senior 2 soon after as the bats came alive for both teams, combining for 17 runs on 16 hits.

Richfield scored in five innings, including a six-run fifth inning after posting two runs in the first and another run in the second.

The opening inning featured a pair of walks that hurt Bloomington. Richfield’s Damon Blanch bounced a single to left field, allowing Nutting and Connor Wolke to score with two outs.

On to the second inning where Nutting not only was hit by a pitch, the second Reds to take the bruise for the trip to first base but, in doing so with the bases loaded, picked up an RBI as Spencer Flanery scored to make it a 3-0 lead. Flanery opened the inning with a hit-by-pitch.

Richfield’s Aidan Forpahl began the third inning with a double to right field before the Reds were retired in order.

Bloomington tied the game at 3-3 with a three-run rally in the bottom of the third inning.

Nutting drew his second hit-by-pitch to begin the fifth inning, followed by consecutive singles by Wolke and Forpahl, which helped the Reds take a 5-3 lead. After an RBI single by Theisen, Flanery took a second hit-by-pitch.

Matthew Popp brought a pair of runs with a fly ball to the shortstop with two outs to make it 9-3.

It was on to the sixth inning, and Leino was next to be beaned with a ball after Wolke and Hank Landin successfully executed a double steal, which turned into two runs and an 11-5 lead for the Reds.

Richfield was walked off in the eighth inning of the June 11 season opener against Holy Angels 4-3. Cole Cheeseman led off the inning with a ground ball to right field, stole second base and scored on a fielding error by the Reds pitcher, who was trying to make a play on Gabe Perron’s bunt to end it dramatically.

Holy Angels’ Justin Gaborik opened the scoring with an RBI double to left field, allowing Finn Sheeley to score with two outs.

Blanch and Nutting followed up with one-out singles to begin the top of the second inning for the Reds. Blanch scored on a wild pitch before Nick Olson struck out swinging to end the inning.

With two away in the second inning, Richfield’s Miles Patt brought in Matthew Popp with a line drive to left field to give the Reds a 2-1 lead.

Nutting scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning, bringing the score to 3-1 with two outs.

With two outs in the fourth inning, Holy Angels tied the game. Wolke hit Eli Swan with a pitch, followed by a bases-loaded walk to Kolton Kaiser. Oskar Eilefson drove in Gabrik with a line drive to right field. Olson made a strong throw to home, where Mark Davidson tagged Swan out to end the inning.

Cheeseman started on the mound for the Stars, striking out 11 Richfield batters and surrendering five hits and three runs over six innings.

Richfield responded to the tough loss with a 15-0 win over Minneapolis Post 1 on June 13 before handing Tri-City Maroon a 15-11 defeat on June 19.

Twenty-six runs over two games is a great way to start the summer Legion season.

Carter and Kelash each had three hits against Post 1, driving in five combined runs. Kelash scored three times while Ian Stang and Leino each drove in two runs.

The Reds walked-off Tri-City with a five-run seventh inning on June 19. The decisive hit came from Patt, who lined a single to left field, allowing Lopez Avila and Carter to score.

The winning hit was the only one in the inning by the Reds, who showed a lot of patience at the plate to force the pitcher to throw strikes. The Reds drew six straight walks before a pop-out brought Patt to the plate with the decisive hit, his second of the game.

Seven different Richfield batters picked up a hit, with Patt, Jayden Anderson and Forpahl each collecting two hits.

Anderson, Kelash, Stand and Wolke combined to strike out ten batters, with Wolke taking the win in relief. Anderson gave up four runs (one earned) on five hits over four innings as the starter.

Follow Jason Olson on Twitter @Jason0lson or @SunSportsJason.