In perhaps the most exciting game of the 2011 season, the Red Birds beat the Le Sueur Braves in a Central Division Playoff Elimination game by a score of 5 – 4 in 11 innings on Tuesday night at Storm Red Bird Stadium.

With the score tied at 4 runs each in the bottom of the 11^th, Zach Swenson opened with a high looping fly ball that landed between the right fielder and the second baseman.  He took a chance and stretched the hit to a double with a smart piece of base-running. Following a strike out and a fly out, Adam Heitz lined a single to center field.  With two outs, Swenson was running on the play and scored the winning run as he threw his helmet into the air and was mobbed by his team mates.  

Le Sueur opened the scoring in the 1st inning with a double by Mike Milam.  Ryan McPartland singled to left to advance Milam to third.  Mike Koller then hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Milam with the first run.

The Red Birds countered in the bottom of the first with 3 runs on an opening single by Casey Malmgren and back-to-back walks to Cary McLaughlin and John Gulden.  With bases loaded and one out, Justin Thompson hit a grounder to the third baseman. The throw home for the force was wild and both Malmgren and McLaughlin scored on the play, Gulden got third and Thompson gained second on the play as well.  Zach Swenson grounded short to first for the second out and Tony Marengo lined a single to left field to score Gulden with the third run of the inning.  3 - 0, Chanhassen after the first inning.  

Starters Darron Culbert for Le Sueur and Andrew Roy for the Red Birds settled down and allowed no score as the game moved swiftly to the 8th inning.  With one out in the top of the 8th inning, Braves pinch hitter Collin McCoy laced a one out single to left field.  Milam then flew out to left field.  Ryan McPartland then launched a line drive homerun over the left field fence to tie the score at 3 - 3.   Red Birds could do nothing on offense in the bottom of the 8th.  

In the top of the 9th inning, Roy walked Sam Rinehart to open the inning. Mike May then popped a bunt that Roy easily caught for the first out.  Roy then walked Matt McPartland and hit Brandon Culbert on an inside pitch to load the bases with one out.  Roy then got Jason Sunderman to ground to second baseman T.J. Gulden who threw home for the force at the plate for the second out.  Collin McCoy then grounded to John Gulden at third who easily threw to first for the final out of the 9th inning leaving the bases loaded with Braves and allowing no score. 

The Red Birds got a leadoff single from Thompson in the bottomm of the 9th, but could do nothing else in the frame and the game was tied 3 - 3 at the end of 9 innings.

In the top of the 10th, Zach Neubauer relieved Roy.  After a ground out, third to first, Ryan McPartland worked the count full off Newbauer, and then got his third hit of the night on a single to center field.  Mike Koller followed with another single to center to put men on 1st and 2nd.  Sam Rinehart then hit a grounder to short and Nate Swenson flipped to T.J. Gulden for what looked like a double play, but only the out at second was recorded.  With McPartland at 3rd and Rinehart at 1st base, Catcher Mike May lined a single that scored McPartland easily but the throw and relay from Heitz to T. J. and then to John Gulden made for an easy tag to nail Rinehart for the third out.  4 - 3 Braves.

In the bottom of the 10th, Malmgren lined a one out single to right field.  Then Cary McLaughlin lined a two out grounder to short stop but SS Sunderman bobbled it and Malmgren slid safely into 2nd base, McLaughlin at first.  John Gulden hit a line drive deep into the left field corner.  Malmgren scored easily from second, and with McLaughlin running on the play, it looked like he would score the winning run.  But Manager Reuvers wisely put the stop sign on McLaughlin as the relay from the shortstop flew over the catcher at home.  Had the throw been down, Cary would have been out easily at home to end the inning.  Justin Thompson came to the plate with men on 2nd and 3rd and two out and hit the first pitch softly back to Culbert for an inning ending out, but the Red Birds had tied it at 4 -4.

In the top of the 11th the Braves got a single and a Red Bird error, but left two runners stranded as Neubauer got an easy ground ball to second from Mike Milam to end the Braves half of the 11th.

That set the stage for the Red Birds win in the bottom half of the inning.  Zach Swenson scoring from second base on Adam Heitz's single to center for the Game Winning RBI.

The Red Birds now play the Arlington A’s on Thursday night at Storm Red Bird Stadium at 7:30. The winner gains a berth in the Region 6 C tournament and plays Belle Plaine for the Championship of the River Valley League's Central Division at Belle Plaine Tiger Park on Saturday, July 30^th at 4:00 PM.

Andrew Roy started and worked 9 innings. Zach Neubauer relieved in the top of the 10^th and got the win.  Starter and losing pitcher, Darron Culbert for Le Sueur pitched 10 innings and was relieved by Jordan Sinell. But Zach Swenson’s double was off Culbert, so Culbert took the loss for the Braves.

Malmgren and Thompson each had two hits for the Red Birds.  Ryan McPartland had three hits and two RBI's for the Braves.

See you at the ball park on Thursday night, 7:30 PM. Wear your Red Bird shirts and caps to cheer the team.

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