The Le Sueur Braves overcame a sluggish start and finished with a bang Sunday night, rallying past the Eagle Lake Expos 9-3 in the opening round of the District 3B Tournament.<\/p>\n
Peyton Tellijohn made his first start on the mound for the Braves this season and came through with a big-time performance. Tellijohn worked seven and one-third innings, allowing two earned runs, while striking out four and walking only one.<\/p>\n
Eagle Lake jumped on the Braves early in the first inning. An error, followed by a stolen base and a double down the line, put the Expos on the board and gave them a 1-0 lead after one.<\/p>\n
The Expos added to their advantage in the fourth, stringing together back-to-back hits, including one that found its way toward the Cambria sign in left field. After four innings, Eagle Lake had built a 3-1 lead.<\/p>\n
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, the tide began to change when Mitch Casperson drew a walk to keep the inning alive. That brought leadoff hitter Bryce Novak to the plate, and Novak delivered in a big way, launching a game-tying two-run homer to left-center.<\/p>\n
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Bryce Novak uncorks a swing. (Ben Camp\/Southernminn.com)<\/p>\n
Tellijohn continued to keep the Expos in check, tossing scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh before working into the eighth. After allowing a one-out walk, Le Sueur turned to Ethan Hoffman to finish the inning.<\/p>\n
Hoffman did exactly that, keeping Eagle Lake off the board with a 1-2-3 performance and setting the stage for the Braves’ offense.<\/p>\n
Going into the bottom of the 8th the Expos made a pitching change and Le Sueur took full advantage. Burke Nesbit led off with a single, followed by an intentional walk to Cole Pengilly. After a failed bunt attempt, Sam Gupton ripped a double into the gap in right center, bringing both Nesbit and Pengilly home and giving Le Sueur its first lead of the night.<\/p>\n
Tyler Pengilly followed with a single, and Ethan Hathaway was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Charlie Weick then came through with another big hit, singling to left and bringing two more runs across. Le Sueur plated two more runs later in the inning on Expos errors, pushing the lead to 9-3 and putting the game out of reach.<\/p>\n
Hoffman returned for the top of the ninth and shut the door with another scoreless inning, finishing off one and a third innings of relief without allowing an earned run, and picking up the win.<\/p>\n
With the victory, Le Sueur advances to the District 3 semifinal game where the team will face off against the No. 2 seeded Jordan Brewers. As the higher seed, the Brewers will host the game at the Jordan Mini Met Tuesday, Aug. 11, with first pitch scheduled for 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Le Sueur and Jordan battled one-another twice this year as River Valley League Central rivals, with the teams splitting the regular season series. The Braves defeated the Brewers 8-7 in Jordan back in late June while Jordan got even with a 7-3 win in Le Sueur in mid July.<\/p>\n
The winner of Tuesday night\u2019s game claims one of the four available MBA State Playoff bids for District 3B and advances to the district championship game which will be held Saturday, Aug. 15 while the losing team will enter the Loser\u2019s Bracket with another opportunity to reach the state tournament with a win. That team will face off against the victor between either Lonsdale and Prior Lake or Eagle Lake and Montgomery. The game will be held at the higher remaining seed Thursday, Aug. 13.<\/p>\n
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