All three Rochester teams advanced to the winners bracket in the Division I First District American Legion baseball tournament Wednesday with first-round wins.
The A's and Patriots won handily, while the Redhawks needed a run in the bottom of the seventh to pull out a victory.
Two of the three -- the Patriots and Redhawks -- play each other today at 4:30 p.m. in the second round of the eight-team double-elimination tournament. The top-seeded A's meet Winona at 7 p.m.
Patriots play well, win
The Patriots played a solid all-around game in beating La Crescent 8-4 at Hudson Field.
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Four Patriots -- Mike Lawler, Mike White, Jake Erickson and Joe Ellerbusch -- had two hits each to lead an 11-hit attack. The team played errorlessly in the field. And Lawler struck out 11 in pitching the distance, giving up eight hits and four walks.
The Pats trailed 3-2 after 3 1/2 innings, but Paul Huey delivered a key hit, doubling to drive in two runs and put Rochester ahead for good.
"We played good defense and gave ourselves a chance to win, which we did," coach Rod Anderson said. "We had a lot of good hitting."
La Crescent 000 ; 300 1 -- 4 8 2
; Rochester Patriots 110 ; 402 x -- 8 11 0
; Curran, Miller (6) and Tukua, Shiemski (6); Lawler and Joe Ellerbusch.
2B -- LAC, Curran, Clark; PAT, Huey, Erickson. HR -- LAC, Shiemski.
A's drub Owatonna
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Ted Garry drove in three runs with a pair of doubles to lead the A's to an easy 10-1 win over Owatonna.
Cris Collins drove in two runs with a double and a single and Dan Lyons and Jesse Anderson had two singles each.
Mike Badger pitched the first four innings and left with a 9-1 lead. Lyons finished up.
The A's take a 24-13 record into tonight's game.
Owatonna 001 ; 000 0 -- 1 5 0
; Rochester A's 240 ; 301 x -- 10 10 3
; Skala, Miller (3), Seykora (6) and Selbrade; Badger, Lyons (5) and Smith.
2B -- A'S, Garry 2, Collins.
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Redhawks hang on
Justin Sokol took a no-hitter into the sixth inning but the Redhawks still had to hold on to beat Waseca 5-4.
A walk and four consecutive singles allowed Waseca to score three runs and tie the game at 4-4. The Redhawks didn't score in the bottom of the sixth and Waseca didn't score in the top of the seventh.
Sokol led off the bottom of the seventh by reaching on an error. Matt Meyer and Ryan Miller then walked to load the bases. Tim Wahl then walked on five pitches, forcing in Sokol with the winning run.
Tim Gerlesberger and Ben Heydt had two hits each, with one of Gerlesberger's a double, and Tony Konicek tripled.
The Redhawks lost outfielder-pitcher Ben Martini when he was hit by a pitch and broke his hand.
The Redhawks take an 18-8 record into today's game.
