Lake Henry 10
Richmond 9
The Lake Henry Lakers held on to beat Richmond 10-9 Sunday and advanced to regions as the champions of the Stearns County South.
The Lakers pounded out 17 hits and scored 10 runs in Richmond against the Royals, who previously defeated St. Martin in a low-scoring playoff series.
Lake Henry opened a 6-0 lead with four runs in the first and two more in the third. Ryan Wuertz hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Lakers, and Doug Fuchs hit another two-run shot in the third.
When the Royals narrowed the deficit to 6-5, the Lakers scored runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to build a 10-6 lead. Richmond scored three times in the bottom of the eighth to cut the gap to one again, at 10-9, but Lake Henry shutout the Royals in the ninth to win 10-9.
Roger Wuertz started pitching for Lake Henry and got the victory with five innings on the mound. He allowed only two earned runs. Mike Stalboerger earned a save by hurling four innings in relief.
Roger Wuertz, Jon Lieser, and Tom Ludwig each had three hits for the Lakers. Ryan Wuertz, Stalboerger, and Steve Lieser each had two hits. These six players combined for 15 of the LakersŐ 17 hits.
Starting next Saturday, Lake Henry will be hosting their first regional tournament since 1949, 51 years ago. The tournament will start on Saturday at 10 a.m. with New Munich battling Richmond. Lake Henry will play Sartell at 12:30 p.m., and Becker will face Spring Hill, which is making its first region appearance, at 3 p.m.
For the playoffs, Lake Henry drafted pitcher Sam Rothstein and catcher Jake Thielen of St. Martin.
County Line League
Regal 10
Melrose 4
For the second week in a row, the Regal Eagles went on the road to defeat the Melrose Black Sox. The 10-4 victory Sunday means Regal will enter regional play as the top seed from the County Line League.
Regal took a 1-0 lead in the second inning and broke open the game with seven runs over the middle three innings. The Eagles scored twice in the fourth, three times in the fifth, and twice in the sixth to build an 8-0 advantage.
Mike Beier and Brad Deyak homered in RegalŐs three-run fifth. For the game, Beier had three hits and three RBIs while Deyak had two hits and two RBIs.
Beier also threw six shutout innings to get the pitching victory. He allowed only two hits while striking out eight.
Melrose scored all of their runs on home runs by Craig Roering. He hit a solo shot in the seventh inning and a three-run blast in the eighth.
Regal will start the regional tournament against the Eden Valley Hawks in Eden Valley on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Melrose will play Kimball on Friday night in Eden Valley at 8 p.m.