Fairmont eliminates Worthington from amateur baseball playoffs

The Worthington Cubs' amateur baseball season came to end Saturday with a 16-4, seven-inning home defeat to Fairmont in the Region 10C quarterfinals

After a Friday night rainout, the second-seeded Martins scored nine runs in the top of the first inning to quickly break things open. Fairmont went on to finish off a two-game sweep of the Cubs in the best-of-three-series and will next face No. 6 seed Jackson in the semis.

Tyler Linder blasted a two-run homer for Worthington and drove in three runs overall in a two-hit day. Logan Huisman contributed a pair of hits, Ethan Duffy had an RBI double and Justin Saufley also doubled. The Cubs ended the year with an overall record of 9-12.

Jackson, meanwhile, completed a two-game sweep of third-seeded Milroy in their quarterfinal series by topping the Irish 6-4 at Jackson's Wacker Field.

The Bulls scored all of their runs in the third inning, with the big hit being a bases-loaded triple by Alex Bretzman, who actually came home on the play himself on an error on the throw to third. Carter Snyder added an RBI single in the inning, and Easton Bahr walked with bases loaded.

Preston Cress pitched into the seventh inning for Jackson. Javen Baumgarn took the mound for two innings, and Bretzman closed in the ninth for the save.

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The top-seeded Windom Pirates cruised to a two-game sweep of eighth-seeded Fox Lake in their Region 10C amateur baseball playoff series by blanking the Lakers 10-0 in seven innings Saturday in Truman.

Windom, which won Game 1 10-3 on Wednesday, took Game 2 thanks to a big day from Drew Rothenberger. He connected at bat for a home run and double Saturday and was sharp on the mound, as he threw six scoreless innings while striking out nine Fox Lake hitters. Also chipping in for the Pirates' offense were Alex Borsgard and Alex Fink, who had three hits apiece, and Keenan Wenzel and Quintin Tietz, who added a pair of hits each.

The triumph improved state-ranked Windom's record to 22-2 overall this season. Their semifinal series with No. 4 seed Luverne starts Wednesday.

The Redbirds, who shut out fifth-seeded Hadley 8-0 on Wednesday evening, picked up another lopsided win against the Buttermakers on Saturday as they won on the road 13-1. Carter Sehr cracked a grand slam at the plate for Luverne and also pitched three scoreless innings. Casey Sehr and Blake Sauer each also went deep in the victory.

Time will tell if an ongoing Region 10C amateur baseball playoffs trend will continue through the semifinal round. All seven best-of-three series in this postseason thus far have resulted in two-game sweeps. All but the Jackson-Milroy series have been won by the higher seed.