With playoff losses of 17-1 to Watertown in Gaylord followed by a 7-2 to Cannon Falls in Arlington, the Legion U19 boys’ season ended on Sunday.
Several on the team had other athletic activities on Sunday, so the Clippers brought just 10 players: journeyman Brennan Kortuem (CHS 2025) anchored the team while his brother Alex Kortuem (CHS 2026), sophomore Kiptyn Coon and freshman Jake Mueller were the only regular starters on the Clipper spring varsity team. The rest of the Clippers included five more freshmen and an eighth grader.
But coach Alec Rogers said the outing was an opportunity for the novice players to get time on the field and especially opportunities in the batter’s box, which was where the team focused on improving this summer.
“They got good experience. First, we wanted them to make contact, to put the ball in play, and then later strive to find the gaps.”
Watertown took advantage of 11 hits and five Clipper errors for two runs in the first, three in the second, five in the third and seven in the fourth to end the game after four and a half innings.
Meanwhile, dominant pitching kept the Clipper bats at bay.
After going down 1-2-3 in the first and second, the Clippers scored their lone run in the third when freshman Brayden Seeman led off with a line drive to right field for a single. His classmates Austin Tarkey and Mueller walked, and Coon sent a line drive single to right field to bring Seeman home.
Those were the only hits the Clippers could muster. They went down 1-2-3 on strikeouts in the fourth and 1-2-3 on two strikeouts and a game-ending ground out in the fifth. All told, they struck out 13 times, nine of them looking and walked twice.
Alex Kortuem went the first three innings on the hill. He allowed six hits for 12 runs, half of them earned, while striking out one, beaning two and walking one.
Seeman tossed the fourth. He gave up five hits for five runs, four of them earned while striking out one. The Clippers stranded nine Watertown runners.
Cannon Falls capitalized on a Clipper error, two singles, two walks and a hit batter to take a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first and never looked back. They added one more run in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Trailing 7-0, the Clippers finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth when Alex Kortuem reached first on an infield error, stole second and scored when Urijah Hoheisel dropped a fly into center field for a single. They added another run in the seventh when Jonathan Cink reached first on an infield error, Tarkey took a pitch for the team, Brennan Kortuem sent a fly ball into left field for a single, and Cink scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Clippers outhit Cannon Falls 6-5. Brennan Kortuem had two singles. Hoheisel, Coon, Mueller and Alex Kortuem each hit one single. They struck out nine times, walked three times, got beaned once and left seven runners on base.
Coon tossed the first four innings. He allowed four hits and six walks and beaned one for six runs, three of them earned while striking out one and leaving seven on base. Brennan Kortuem, in his last stint as a Clipper, took over for the final two innings. He gave up one hit, one walk and one unearned run while striking out three, two of them looking. He stranded one Cannon Falls runner. The Clipper defense committed three errors, one more than Cannon Falls.
Above: Freshman Max Frier saw plenty of action at second base. Here, he steps on the bag to force out a Cannon Falls runner before attempting a double play.
Alex Kortuem started on the mound against Watertown.
Alex Kortuem picks up a short Watertown hit into left field. Next to him is freshman Austin Tarkey.
Brennan Kortuem caught for his brother during the Watertown game…
…and against Cannon Falls, he played center field before pitching the last two innings.
Brayden Seeman got some time on the hill against a solid hitting Watertown team.
Alec Rogers wrapped up the season and sent his returning players off with a direction to keep in tune during the offseason.