The Park Rapids Ameri-can Legion baseball team avoided a sweep at Brainerd last Tuesday when Curtis Tolle scored in the top of the seventh inning for a 10-9 win.
With the game tied 9-9, Tolle opened the seventh inning by reaching on an error and scored on Zach Lehrke's single. That run helped Park Rapids win after seeing a 9-1 lead vanish.
An error, a single by Tom Juberian, an RBI double by Chris Bruhn and an RBI single by Kyle Blanchard gave the Legion a 2-0 lead in the first.
A six-run inning pushed Park Rapids' lead to 8-1 in the third. Blanchard's two-run single, an RBI single by Jed Ryan, a two-run single by Tolle, a single by Lehrke and an RBI double by Darren Bundy sparked that inning.
An error and singles by Blanchard and Eli Donatelle led to another run in the fourth as Park Rapids held a 9-1 lead.
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Brainerd rallied to tie the game on Chris Smolke's three-run home run in the sixth inning before the Legion scored the winning run in the seventh to drop Brainerd to 8-1 on the season. That win lifted Park Rapids to 4-9.
Park Rapids managed only five hits and two runs in the first game as Brainerd coasted to a 12-2 victory.
Bundy and Ryan singled to produce a run in the second while a walk to Tolle and a double by Lehrke led to the other run in the fifth as this game was ended after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Legion goes 1-2 at Perham
Park Rapids went 1-2 at the Perham tournament on June 24-25, losing to Roseau 5-1 and Perham 3-2 on June 24 and defeating Thief River Falls 10-4 on June 25.
Juberian's double and an RBI single by Bundy led to Park Rapids' lone run against Roseau.
Park Rapids led Perham 2-1 before the home team scored twice in the seventh to pull off the win. Jake Hanson walked and scored on singles by Lehrke and Juberian for the first run in the third while a double by Bruhn and a single by Ryan led to the Legion's other run in the fourth.
A three-run fifth and four-run seventh led Park Rapids past Thief River Falls. Brandon Gartner and Derek Ricke scored in the third and a double by Ricke and singles by Lehrke and Bruhn led to three more runs in the fifth. After Gartner singled and scored in the sixth, a four-run seventh sealed the win. Singles by Juberian and Tolle and two errors keyed that inning.
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Nisswa sweeps Legion
The Legion dropped two games to Nisswa on June 21, losing the first game 3-2 and the second game 10-7.
In the second game, Gartner and Ricke had singles for a run in the second; two errors led to two runs in the third; Gartner's double capped off a two-run fourth; and doubles by Gartner and Ricke led to the final two runs in the seventh.
In the first game, Tolle scored both runs.
