By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Vergas Loons came up just short in its bid to advance to the second weekend of the Region 11C tournament as they fell to Ashby by a score of 15-2 in the opening round, as well as a tough 4-2 game to Henning on Sunday. 

In their game against Henning, the North Stars took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Austin Koep scored on a wild pitch, before adding a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single by Garrett Kuhn-Rice and another wild pitch to give the North Stars a 3-0 lead.

Despite the early deficit the Loons made a game of it as Aaron Felker connected with an RBI single to center field with two outs to make the score 3-1 and cut the deficit to just a single run in the top of the eighth inning when Jonathon Hoffmann hit into a fielder’s choice to bring Drew Mekalson across the plate to leave the score at 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. 

The North Stars would get back a run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Eric Fick scored on an error with two outs to give Henning a 4-2 lead. 

The Loons brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but came up just short in its effort to knock off Henning and fell by a score of 4-2. 

Henning was led offensively by Ryan Despard, Kuhn-Rice and Fick who all collected a pair of hits in the win. Kuhn-Rice pitched a complete game for Henning as he went nine innings and gave up eight hits, two earned runs and struck out six batters to collect the win.

Felker led the way offensively for the Loons as he went 3-4 with an RBI. Noah Mekalson also finished with a pair of hits, while Hoffmann took the loss on the mound as he went seven innings and gave up three earned runs and seven hits, while striking out three batters. Drew Mekalson pitched the final two innings and gave up two hits one unearned run and struck out three batters.