The Luverne Tigers fought valiantly this past season, and almost arrived at the end victorious, but in a final game against New Brockton last weekend fell 5-3.

Varsity baseball coach Brad Horn is proud of the accomplishments of his team and commends them for going so far with such a young team.

“We were very young this year; we had no seniors on the team. To me, that was pretty good to do what we did with the young kids we had,” Horn said.

In the first round against New Brockton, the Tigers started off the game by scoring two runs in the first inning, followed by two more in the fourth and one in the seventh. The Tigers reined victorious in the first of two games that Friday with a lead of 5-4.

Heading into the second game, the drive that fueled the Tigers in the first game waned as New Brockton took the lead with a shut out score of 10-0.

Even with this loss on the books, the Tigers did not stop there. They continued on to the third round of the playoffs, facing New Brockton once again, and gave them a run for their money.

“We had some question marks on our pitching when we entered the season, because we didn’t have any pitchers coming back. Tay Brantley stepped up for us this year, and he was 6-1 on the season, and he ended up with a 1.95 ERA,” Horn said.

“He averaged less than one walk per game, and that’s unheard of. Hunter Blake Stallings pitched well for us and he’s in that 4-3 and Hunter Kendrick pitched well for us. He’s in the 4-3 also.”

The Tigers scored their first run in the first inning, followed by one in the third and one in the fourth. According to Horn, Stallings, Brantley and Kendrick helped lead the team in their final playoff games, along with the two returning starters from the previous year, Marquese Davison and Antavious Brown.

By the end of the night, the Tigers had fallen 5-3, but not without leaving 12 total runners on base, according to Horn.

“For the playoffs, we really came together as a team. It kind of took a whole year to get there seeing as we only had two returning starters from the previous season,” Horn said.

“We were finally gelling together when it came to playoff time, and I think it showed.”

The Tigers boasted an overall season score of 16-11.