Athletics fall flat in 13-3 loss to Howard Lake

With the Region 12C championship on the line in winner take all game, the Delano Athletics lost to the Howard Lake Orphans on Sunday afternoon at Delano Municipal Baseball Park.

The Orphans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and added three more runs in the second inning by way of walks and errors to take a commanding 5-0 lead. Howard Lake would score another run in the third inning to extend their lead to 6-0.

The Athletics would begin to chip away at the lead in the fifth inning when Joey Althoff ripped a line drive up the middle with the bases loaded to score a pair of runs and cutting the Orphans lead to 6-2.

Trevor Jaunich would cut the Orphans lead in half with a solo home run to begin the sixth inning.  The Orphans responded in the bottom of the sixth inning with a run and maintain a 4-run lead, 7-3.

The Orphans continued to pile runs on, as the Athletics bullpen gave up a run in the seventh and five more runs in the eighth, before the game was called by way of the ten-run rule, 13-3.

With the loss, the Athletics will be the #2 seed in the upcoming Minnesota state amateur baseball tournament.  Delano will play its first game on Saturday, August 22 at 1:30 p.m. in Watkins, versus either Sleepy Eye or Springfield from Region 2C.

In the postgame draft, the Athletics selected Todd Fuller (Maple Lake), Chad Raiche (Maple Lake), and Connor Kern (Hutchinson).