Cubs bow out of amateur baseball playoffs after Jackson earns sweep

The Worthington Cubs were eliminated from the amateur baseball playoffs Friday night, as they were blanked by the Jackson Bulls 8-0. The Cubs had lost the first game of the best-of-three series with Jackson on Thursday, as they were defeated 8-5.

In Thursday's matchup, Jackson took an early 5-0 advantage after two innings, as it capitalized on multiple Worthington errors. Easton Sauerbrei blasted a three-run homer for the Cubs and Jake Brandner added a two-run shot, but they were not enough. Justin Saufley took the loss on the mound; only two of the runs he surrendered were earned.

In Friday's game, Jackson's Aaron Bretzman pitched shutout ball for 6 1/3 innings and Worthington made six errors in the field, a night after committing five errors. Brandner allowed all eight runs over seven innings. Once again, only two of those eight runs were earned.

The Cubs concluded their season with an overall record of 8-10.

In other amateur baseball action, the Hadley Buttermakers finished off a 2-0 sweep over Pipestone in their series with a 7-1 victory on Saturday. Hadley got a six-hit, 21-strikeout shutout performance from Tucker Sorenson to take the series opener, 3-0.

Windom wrapped a 2-0 series sweep of Fox Lake with a 12-2 win Friday night. That came one day after Luke Gilbertson fired a perfect game on Thursday, striking out nine and throwing just 86 pitches in a 5-0 victory.

Milroy also completed its 2-0 sweep of Lakefield on Friday, as the Irish topped the Horned Frogs 6-3 after blanking them 10-0 on Wednesday.

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Luverne's Senior American Legion baseball team qualified for the Senior Division 2 State Tournament by picking up three victories this past weekend at the SubState tourney in Truman.

Luverne first needed a triumph on Friday night to advance to Saturday action, and they got it by defeating St. James 11-3. St. James had earned the right to face Luverne by defeating Wabasso earlier Friday.

Then, on Saturday, Luverne faced off against Sleepy Eye, which had sent Luverne into the SubState consolation bracket with a 6-4 result on Sunday, July 20. Needing two wins Saturday to advance to state, Luverne took the first matchup by a score of 3-2 and then won the second in a 11-1 rout to march onward.

The Senior Division 2 State Tournament will be played Aug. 1-3 in Ely.