In a battle of Hiawatha Valley League powers, Rochester Lourdes got three runs in the top of the seventh inning to remain undefeated in a 6-3 win Thursday over Byron.
"It was a well-played game," said Byron coach Dave Anderson. "There were only a total of six walks on a windy day."
Mike Lawler, Paul Huey and Jay Kasner got key hits in the top of the seventh inning to secure the win.
Lawler picked up the pitching win, going six innings, with relief in the seventh from Kasner.
Byron gained a 3-2 lead in the second inning on a home run to left field by sophomore Matt Storlie.
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The Bears had a chance to score in the bottom of the fourth inning when Erdmann led off with double and advanced to third on a sacrifice. Then he attempted to score on a wild pitch but was thrown out by catcher Dan Smith on a close play.
Lourdes' Adam Dahl continued his hot hitting with three hits and an RBI. He ended the week 6-for-7 with three walks and four RBIs.
Byron ace Jeremy Erdmann walked three and struck out 10.
Byron (3-1, 4-2 HVL) plays today at Stewartville.
Lourdes (4-0, 4-0 HVL) plays at Windom on Saturday to face Windom at 12:30 p.m. and New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva at 3 p.m.
Lourdes 002 100 3 -- 6 10 3
; Byron 003 000 0 -- 3 4 4
; Erdmann and Kruger; Lawler, Kasner (7) and Smith.
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2B -- LOUR, Smith; BYRON, Erdmann, Cooper. HR -- BYRON, Storlie.
JM loses slugfest
Rochester John Marshall remained winless Thursday night, falling 14-9 in a hitting festival with Faribault in Big Nine Conference baseball.
JM, which slipped to 0-5 in the Big Nine and overall, banged 10 hits. But the Falcons were even more productive, with 14.
"We hit the ball solid a lot of times today, but the pitching and defense weren't there," JM coach Terry Heiderscheit said. "We have to make plays to win and right now we're not doing that. It's going to take more practice."
JM had a variety of players with big hitting days. David Arnett was 2-for-4, and Jake Koelln, Chris Fischer and Adam Rud each homered for the Rockets.
JM finished with six errors. Faribault had five.
The Rockets play at Rochester Mayo on Saturday.
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Faribault 204 033 2 -- 14 14 5
; John Marshall 241 000 2 -- 9 10 6
; Root and Peroutka; Jacobson, Rud (5) and Koelln.
