Glenwood/Lowry’s victory over Broken Bow (Neb.) clinched a spot in the Centennial Classic championship game.
After Friday’s opening games at the Centennial Classic in Milbank, S.D., the four teams were special guests at a banquet where keynote speaker Dr. Joel Erdmann, a native of Milbank and director of athletics at the University of South Alabama, shared some characteristics of leadership.
One of them stuck with Glenwood/Lowry (Minn.) team manager Joe Alexander.
“We talked to (our players) a lot about (resiliency) last night and this morning,” Alexander said. “Hopefully they learned from it.”
Lesson learned. And the result put Glenwood/Lowry Posts 187/253 American Legion Baseball team into Sunday’s Centennial Classic championship game.
The Minnesota team outlasted Broken Bow (Neb.) Post 126, 6-5, in Saturday’s Game 4 of the Classic to advance to Sunday’s winner-take-all Game 6.
“Today, both teams showed a lot of resiliency. Just an incredible baseball game, it was a heavyweight boxing match. They threw a punch, we threw a punch, they threw a punch, we threw a punch; that’s the definition of resiliency, two teams getting after it and playing the game to the end,” Alexander said.
For the fourth time in as many games in Milbank’s celebration of American Legion Baseball’s 100th birthday, the designated home team emerged victorious.
Glenwood/Lowry leadoff hitter Miles Wildman scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first. He reached on a walk, then scored on cleanup hitter Noah Jensen’s RBI single — Jensen’s fifth RBI of the tournament after he hit two two-run home runs in Friday’s win over LaMoure (N.D.) Post 19.
Broken Bow took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. Max Denson singled for the second of his four hits in the game and scored on Dom Nowak’s triple. Nowak scored when the next Broken Bow batter, Kayden Record, singled.
Glenwood/Lowry reclaimed the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third, but Broken Bow tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth as Denson scored again. He finished 4-for-5 with 3 runs scored for the Nebraska squad.
Glenwood/Lowry went up 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth after an argument over a live ball call that allowed Connor Erickson to advance from first to third and score on a wild pitch.
Broken Bow, with only nine players making the trip to Milbank, rallied again, scoring twice in the top of the sixth to take a 5-4 lead. Denson drove in Logan Bell, then scored the go-ahead run on Brice Chaplin’s double.
The Minnesotans had one more punch.
Alex Panitzke doubled in Dylan Alexander and Erickson to put Glenwood/Lowry ahead 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth. Then, Nathan Dell — who came on in relief of Panitzke in the sixth, got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the seventh to close out the victory.
“He’s a bulldog for me, he’s been pitching for me since he was 9, and we know that Nathan’s the guy we want on the mound in that situation,” Alexander said. “He never lets the game get too big or get away from him.”
Game 4’s result sent Broken Bow into a Game 5 Saturday night against LaMoure, who defeated Milbank 8-3 in Saturday’s opening game.
Meanwhile, Glenwood/Lowry could start preparing for Sunday’s final.
“It’s an honor to be here, and what a fun weekend of baseball and a fun weekend at The Abbey of the Hills we’re having. It means a lot. We’re here for baseball, we’re here celebrating Legion Baseball history, something that runs very big in our town. We preach Legion Baseball, so it’s just a huge honor,” Alexander said.
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