Beulah tops Harvey on Lawson’s gem
By CRAIG HAUPERT, Staff Writer chaupert@minotdailynews.comLAMOURE - Levi Lawson had never been in this position before, starting at pitcher for Beulah during North Dakota State American Legion Class B Baseball Tournament.
If there were nerves in his body (and there were) he wasn't showing them.
"The adrenaline was going," Lawson said. "I just had to stay ahead in the count and let the defense do the work. The offense put some runs on the board for me so it made it pretty easy on me."
Lawson allowed just three hits while striking out eight and walking three in a complete game 7-0 shutout of Harvey Wednesday at Townsend Field. Beulah will play Casselton in today's second round.
Of Lawson's eight strikeouts, none were more important than the only one he threw in the third inning.
Trailing 5-0, Harvey had an opportunity to get back in the game with the bases loaded and two outs. Lawson worked the count full before punching out Kenny Keller to end the inning.
"That was definitely big. The game could've changed if they score those runs," Beulah head coach Reid Flaagan said. "That would've put them right back in it."
Harvey didn't do itself any favors. All but one of Beulah's run scorers reached on a walk or were hit by a pitch. Two of Beulah's runs were scored on errors and another on a wild pitch by starting and losing pitcher Dylan Schell, 16.
"He was a little bit nervous but I can live with that early in the game, but it never seemed to change," Harvey head coach Dan Stutlien said. "On the other side of it we never scored a run so I'm not sure it would've made a whole lot of difference at this juncture."
Third baseman Tanner Lorenz batted 2-for-3 and represented 2/3 of the total hits for Harvey, which will play Grafton today to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament.
Beulah short stop Tanner Boe plated Ben Maliske with a single in the first and Lawson scored on a wild pitch in the second for a 2-0 lead. Beulah added three runs in the third, two on an error by the pitcher and another on a single by right fielder Levi Jurgens. Run-scoring singles by Lawson in the fourth and Maliske in the fifth capped scoring
LaMoure 3,
West Fargo 1
LaMoure starter Nick Tollefson gave up just four hits and an unearned run as LaMoure defeated West Fargo 3-1 in the opening round of the 2008 Class B State Legion Tournament.
After allowing a single run in the first inning, Tollefson shut the door, striking out five en route to the win.
LaMoure got on the board with two runs in fifth and added an insurance tally in the top of the sixth.
Jared Pederson led the LaMoure offense with a 3-for-3 day at the plate. Aces starter Matt Strahm gave up just two earned runs and struck out five in 5 1/3 innings.
