With the American Legion District playoffs starting today (Wednesday), the Post 15 squad had a fine tune-up of a weekend by going 3-2 in the Water Carnival Tournament Thursday-Sunday at Washington Ballpark.
The No. 4 Detroit Lakes Legion squad opened the District playoffs in Perham Wednesday against No. 1 East Grand Forks, with No. 2 Perham facing No. 3 Thief River Falls in the other bracket game.
The Lakers have more than enough field time after playing 16 games in the last 11 days -- including two tournaments -- with a solid performance to bookend the regular season.
DL opened with an impressive 5-0 win over Fargo Thursday, with ace Brock Johnson returning to his normal ways on the mound with a complete-game, three-hit shutout.
"Brock didn't have any walks and threw strikes," said Post 15 head coach Mitch McLeod. "He was pitching like he was last year, pretty dominating."
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The Lakers went 2-0 in the tourney with a 10-2 win over Andover Friday, as Ben Lindquist picked up the win.
DL had six hits, including a 2-3 game by leadoff hitter Max Knoll, who added RBI hits in the fourth and fifth innings.
Jordan Manning also had two RBIs in the victory, while Connor McLeod scored three times, as DL took advantage of two Andover errors.
Lindquist gave up just two hits, but had seven walks in the victorious effort.
Post 15 had an off night Saturday, as Rosetown clobbered them 18-0, which included a 13-run third frame.
DL pitchers -- with Jordan Manning starting -- had 14 walks and hit batters combined, while the defense committed four errors.
"The Rosetown pitcher was pretty good, but that was our worst game by far," Mitch McLeod said.
DL was no-hit in the loss.
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Kirk McLeod pitched a seven-hit, complete game in an 11-3 win over Brandon, Manitoba, in the first of two games Sunday.
Brock Johnson keyed DL's offense with a 3-3 game, including two RBIs, which came on a single in a six-run third.
Connor McLeod had a big two-run triple in a four-run fourth to give his younger brother, Kirk, a nice 10-3 cushion.
Kirk McLeod hit two batters, but walked just one, as he scattered the seven Brandon hits.
"Kirk threw strikes and kept the ball down low and that's what high school pitchers need to do," Mitch McLeod added.
After losing to Moorhead five consecutive times by the 10-run rule, DL posted a more competitive effort in the final tilt of the weekend in a 9-5 loss.
Once again, Moorhead had plenty of power, hitting two homeruns off the bat of John Cahill -- including a three-run blast in the fifth.
But Post 15 made a dent in a 9-1 deficit with four runs in the sixth, as T.J. Manning capped a strong outing at the plate with a three-run double.
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Manning finished with four RBIs and two hits -- including a solo homer in the third inning.
"We played a lot better against Moorhead and Nate Baker pitched well against them (11 hits, four walks and four strikeouts)," the DL coach added. "Overall, the kids hit well through the tournament and they executed well. We had a couple of well pitched games, too."
The District playoffs will run through the week and into the weekend in the double-elimination format.
Laker results
Post 15 Water Carnival Tournament in Detroit Lakes, Thursday-Sunday, July 15-18.
Friday
Andover 100 01 - 2 2 3
Post 15 301 42 - 10 6 1
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Detroit Lakes
AB R H Bi
M. Knoll 3 1 2 2
K. McLeod 2 2 1 0
C. McLeod 2 3 1 1
B. Johnson 1 1 0 0
J. Manning 3 0 0 2
T. Manning 2 1 0 0
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N. Krohne 2 2 1 0
A. Gnoinsky 1 0 0 0
B. Labat 3 0 1 1
Totals 19 10 6 6
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k): DL - B. Lindquist (WP) 5-2-2-2-1-7-5.
Saturday
Rosetown 32(13) 00 - 18 7 2
Post 15 000 00 - 0 0 4
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Detroit Lakes
AB R H Bi
Gnoinsky 0 0 0 0
N. Baker 1 0 0 0
K. McLeod 1 0 0 0
M. Labat 1 0 0 0
C. McLeod 2 0 0 0
Lindquist 1 0 0 0
Johnson 1 0 0 0
A. Guetter 1 0 0 0
T. Manning 3 0 0 0
Krohne 2 0 0 0
B. Labat 2 0 0 0
A. Fondrick 2 0 0 0
A. Pederson 0 0 0 0
Totals 17 0 0 0
Pitching: DL - J. Manning (LP).
Sunday
Brandon 001 200 - 3 7 3
Post 15 006 401 - 11 10 1
Detroit Lakes
AB R H Bi
Knoll 1 2 1 0
Gnoinsky 3 2 1 0
C. McLeod 4 1 1 2
Johnson 3 3 3 2
J. Manning 4 0 1 0
L. Baker 4 1 1 1
T. Manning 4 1 1 1
Pederson 3 0 1 1
B. Labat 2 1 0 0
Totals 28 11 10 7
3B: C. McLeod.
Pitching: DL - K. McLeod (WP) 6-7-3-3-0-2.
Sunday
Mrhd 101 052 0 - 9 11 2
Post 15 001 004 0 - 5 6 2
Detroit Lakes
AB R H Bi
Knoll 2 1 1 1
K. McLeod 3 1 0 0
C. McLeod 2 1 1 0
Johnson 3 0 0 0
T. Manning 4 1 2 4
L. Baker 3 0 1 0
J. Gilson 1 0 0 0
Pederson 3 0 0 0
M. Labat 1 0 0 0
Krohne 3 1 1 0
Fondrick 1 0 0 0
Gnoinsky 1 0 0 0
B. Labat 2 0 0 0
Totals 29 5 6 5
HR: T. Manning...2B: Manning.
Pitching: DL - N. Baker (LP) 7-11-10-8-4-4.
Detroit Lakes at West Fargo, Monday, July 19.
Post 15 000 00 - 0 1 5
West Fargo 451 0x - 10 11 0
Detroit Lakes
AB R H Bi
J. Manning 2 0 1 0
N. Baker 2 0 0 0
B. Labat 2 0 0 0
Gilson 2 0 0 0
Lindquist 2 0 0 0
Guetter 2 0 0 0
Fondrick 2 0 0 0
Fonder 1 0 0 0
M. Labat 2 0 0 0
Totals 17 0 1 0
Pitching: DL - C. McLeod (LP) 4-11-10-5-3-2.
Post 15 000 00 - 0 0 2
West Fargo 040 33 - 10 5 0
Detroit Lakes
AB R H Bi
J. Manning 2 0 0 0
N. Baker 2 0 0 0
K. McLeod 2 0 0 0
Gilson 1 0 0 0
Lindquist 2 0 0 0
Guetter 2 0 0 0
Fondrick 2 0 0 0
Fonder 1 0 0 0
M. Labat 1 0 0 0
Totals 15 0 0 0
Pitching: DL - Pederson (LP) 5-5-10-3-2-0.
