Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team wins twice at home invitational Saturday

The Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team played host to a three-team invitational tournament at Marcusen Park Saturday involving Southland, Blooming Prairie and Wabasha/Kellogg, and in their first game of the day versus Southland to kick off the invitational, the Athletics were able to push across a run in the bottom of the 7th to win the Southeast Conference matchup in walk-off fashion by a score of 4-3.

The game was tied at 2 after two innings of play before LP took a 3-2 lead with a run in the bottom of the 3rd.  That lead stood until the Rebels scored a single run in the top of the 5th to tie the game at three before the Lyle/Pacelli run in the bottom of the 7th to end the game.  Hunter VaDeer led the Athletics offensively by going 2 for 4 with a home run, two RBI’s and two runs scored, Mac Nelson was also 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored, Jake Truckenmiller was 1 for 2 with a RBI and Dane Schara and Dylan Regenscheid picked up the other two hits in the game for Lyle/Pacelli.  For Southland, Harrison Hanna went 2 for 3 with a run scored, Travis Kirtz was 1 for 3 out of the cleanup spot in the order with a RBI, Connor Edland was 1 for 3 with a double, a run knocked in and another scored and Jonas Wiste was 1 for 2 with a RBI.

Hunter VaDeer earned the win on the mound for the Athletics, as he game into the game in relief of starter Mac Nelson who pitched the first five innings and gave up the three Southland runs, all earned, on five hits, striking out seven and walking two.  VaDeer pitched two scoreless innings, striking out five and walking three.  Gavin Nelson was tagged with the loss for the Rebels as he came in for starter Harrison Hanna in the 6th inning and gave up the game-winning run for LP on two hits, striking out two and walking one.

In their second game of the day versus a young Blooming Prairie squad, the Lyle/Pacelli bats broke out in a big way as Jake Truckenmiller knocked in six runs and Landon Meyer belted out six hits as the Athletics piled up six runs in the third, nine in the fourth and six more in the fifth on their way to a 28-4, 5-inning rout.

LP piled up 25 hits in the game as a team, led by Meyer, who was a perfect 6 for 6 with a double, six runs scored and another knocked in, Truckenmiller wound up going 4 for 6 with two doubles, six RBI’s and three runs scored, Hunter VaDeer went 4 for 5 with a RBI and four runs scored, Mac Nelson was 3 for 5 for the game with a double, three runs knocked in and three more scored, Isaac Nelson was a perfect 3 for 3 with four RBI’s and two runs scored, Dane Schara went 2 for 3 with a RBI and three runs scored, Trey Anderson knocked in three runs in going 2 for 3 with two runs scored and Isaac Small was 1 for 2 with a RBI and a run scored.  For Blooming Prairie, Jesse Cardenas was 1 for 2 with a double, Cale Braaten went 1 for 3 with a pair of RBI’s and Carter Bishop was 1 for 2 with a triple and a run scored.

Jake Truckenmiller pitched all five innings for the win for Lyle/Pacelli as he gave up the four runs, all earned, on five hits, striking out seven and walking three.  With the two wins, the Athletics have now won four in a row, and they are 11-4 overall on the season and 10-2 in the Southeast Conference.

Lyle/Pacelli returns to action today (Monday) at St. Clair in a non-conference matchup, with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m.