Jun 19, 2025
Photo by Jake McNeill: Wabasso third baseman Chase Irlbeck fields a ground ball during the second inning of an amateur baseball game against the Windom Pirates in Wabasso on Wednesday.
WABASSO — The Windom Pirates’ deep lineup was too much for the Wabasso Jaxx to overcome in a non-league matchup on Wednesday night at City Field. The Pirates’ bats rallied early and Wabasso never recovered, falling 20-0 in seven innings.
“[After the game, we just talked about] keeping their heads up, following through and getting back to the basics,” Wabsso manager Dustin Tietz said.
Windom showed discipline and power at the plate from the start of the first inning and never looked back. Jake Tauer and Alex Fink reached on a pair of walks to put two runners on with two outs. Drew Rothenberger then doubled into right-center field to score both runners. Rothenberger tried to stretch the hit to a triple on the errant throw home, but was tagged out to minimize the damage.
The Pirates continued to swing their way ahead in the second, starting with a pair of singles from Kobe Lovell and Brett Willaby. Lovell, dancing back and forth between second and third before committing before the pitch, baited Wabasso into a balk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Josh Garrison.
Tauer kept the rally going with an RBI single to drive in Willaby, and Tauer scored on a Keenan Wenzel single. Fink capped off the inning with a double to drive in Wenzel for a 6-0 advantage for the Pirates.
Wabasso starting pitcher Noah Anderson was tagged four seven earned runs over his four frames on the mound. He gave up eight hits and three walks, though four errors behind him didn’t help the Jaxx’s cause. Wabasso finished with a total of eight errors in the game.
A pair of last-inning homers ended the night with some fireworks for Windom. With a runner on first, Windom scored when a Nick Kulseth ground ball took a high hop over first baseman Joseph Liebl’s head. Rothenberger followed up with a two-run homer over the left field wall. After singles by Lovell and David Volk, Willaby hit a three-run blast into right field to make the score 20-0.
Garrison was dominant in taking the hill for Windom. He pitched a complete-game shutout, limiting the Jaxx to five hits. While he struck out three batters, he didn’t give out any free bases with walks, hit batters or wild pitches.
Colton Taylor doubled and stole third for Wabasso with one out in the top of the first, but he was held up on a slow grounder that barely left the batters box for the inning’s second out, and a fly out ended the frame before he could score. He was one of two batters to advance past second base for the Jaxx, with Jacob Hildebrandt also getting there after a leadoff single in the third.
Following Hildebrandt’s single, the Pirates retired 13 consecutive batters. The streak ended in the seventh, when Liebl singled before being forced out at second. Guetter had the only other hit for Wabasso, but the game ended on a lineout.
“They [the Jaxx] kept their heads up, I mean it. They kept it light-hearted,” Dustin Tietz said. “You could hear it in the dugout. They were, for the most part, enjoying themselves. They know they struggled a bit out on the field, but everybody just needs to get back to basics.”
In the seventh inning, Quintin Tietz reached first on an error, stole second and scored on a Lovell fly ball to shallow center field that landed for a single. The Jaxx halted the Windom momentum in the inning from there when Liebl leaped to catch a line drive at first and gunned it over to Brandon Lang at second for the inning-ending double play, with Wabasso trailing 7-0.
The Pirates’ lead continued to grow from there; they tacked on two more runs in the fourth and sixth innings and three more in the fifth inning.
Adam Perrizo, Wallaby and Garrison loaded the bases with one out when Tauer hit a sacrifice fly to give the Pirates a 10-run lead. Another pair of runs scored when Wenzel singled and advanced to second on a throwing error to first, making the score 12-0 in favor of the Pirates through four-and-a-half frames.
Riding into town on a whole herd of Mustangs
The Windom Pirates got offensive production from a trio of recent Southwest Minnesota State University graduates. Center fielder Jake Tauer, second baseman Keenan Wenzel and first baseman Kobe Lovell each graduated from SMSU in 2024. Tauer, a Tracy native, was a member of the Milroy Yankees last year while teaching in Lamberton before relocating this year for a job at Windom Public Schools as a physical education teacher.
“It feels like I’m still in college at some points,” Tauer said with a laugh. “It’s just loose and fun. I mean, everybody’s getting in the game, everybody’s getting some hacks, everybody’s running around the bases and hitting the ball around the field.”
Lovell finished tied for a game-high four hits and Tauer had a hit and two walks, with each of the two scoring three runs. Wenzel also had a pair of hits and was hit by a pitch.
Up next
Wabasso falls to 4-9 on the season with the loss and will aim to bounce back when it goes on the road to take on the Dawson Drakes on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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