Reds finish second at Loon tournament

VIRGINIA, Minn. — The Superior Reds American Legion baseball team finished in second place at last weekend’s Land of the Loon Tournament at Stock Field in Virginia.

The Reds opened the tournament with a 10-1 win over Hibbing on Friday afternoon. After play was rained out on Saturday, the Reds defeated Moose Lake 13-1 on Sunday in the semifinals. After a five-hour break in between games, Superior lost to Minneapolis Southwest 2-1 in the championship game.

Ryan Myhre suffered the loss for the Reds, despite tossing a four-hitter with four strikeouts and two walks. Both runs he allowed came on Dylan McCreary’s two-out, two-strike double in the third inning.

Following McCreary’s hit, Myhre ended the game by retiring the next 10 batters. The only blemish was a lead-off single in the sixth inning to Peter Bertell. The Reds quickly removed him from the bases with a nifty 4-6-3 double play.

McCreary was also the winning pitcher for the Lakers, allowing five hits with six strikeouts and three walks. The only run he allowed came in the sixth inning when Spencer Koskie walked and eventually scored on Jordan Hughes’ pinch-hit single.

The Reds put runners on first and second in the third inning and second and third, with no outs, in the fifth, but McCreary was able to battle out of both jams.

Colton Yepma had two of Superior’s five hits. Trent Olson, Zach Magdzas and Hughes had the remaining three.

Clayton Yeazle picked up the complete-game victory in the win over Moose Lake. The right-hander allowed four hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

Yeazle had a perfect game going until walking Teddy Ryan with one out in the fourth inning. Ryan eventually broke up Yeazle’s shutout bid when he scored on Spencer Clough’s RBI single.

Moose Lake loaded the bases in the fifth inning, but a 1-2-3 double play by the Reds kept the Outlaws off the board.

Superior had 10 hits, including three by Hughes; a three-run home run and two-run single by Sam Schiff; two hits and two RBIs by Koskie; a double, single and RBI by Tyler Long; and a single and RBI by Taylor Olson.

Hughes hit a two-run single and scored on a wild pitch to give Superior a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Koskie and Long hit RBI singles for a 5-0 lead in the second inning.

After Moose Lake scored in the fourth inning, Superior put the game away with a five-run sixth inning and three-run seventh.

In the sixth inning, Schiff hit a two-run single, Koskie hit a RBI double, Taylor Olson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Hughes, who reached on a bunt single, scored on a wild pitch.

In the seventh, Taylor Olson reached on an error, Dylan Ramage walked and both scored on Schiff’s home run.

Long picked up the complete-game victory for the Reds on Friday against Hibbing.

Schiff led the Reds with three hits, including a two-run home run. Myhre added three hits, including a two-run single; Trent Olson also had three hits and Magdzas had two.

The Reds play at Duluth Lakeview at 6 p.m. Thursday before hosting Virginia and Eau Claire for doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Both doubleheaders begin at 1 p.m.

NOTES: In other tournament action, Moose Lake defeated Virginia 2-0 in the third-place game and Taconite downed Hermantown 2-1 in the consolation championship. … West Duluth was also in action losing to Minneapolis Southwest 3-2 and Hermantown 11-0. … Hermantown lost to Virginia 5-3 in the opening round.

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