Trailing 2-1 with two outs, two runners on and a 1-2 count in the fourth inning, Kessler Severson sent a pitch over the wall in left-center field for a three-run homer to give Sleepy Eye Post 7 its first lead of the game over Luverne Post 123.

That was the spark Sleepy Eye needed as it hung on and took down Luverne in the DII Southwest Sub-State Legion Baseball Tournament semifinals Sunday afternoon at Truman Baseball Field.

“Two-strike at-bat there in the end and I was just trying to get a pitch I could hit, just get an RBI there,” Severson said. “Then I see my pitch was kind of right in my spot, I swung and it felt really good coming off the bat. Really couldn’t tell at all, but I look up and hear everyone cheering, home run.”

While he hit his first career home run this past spring with Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, Severson’s second career home run lifted Post 7 to the Sub-State finals for the third year in a row. That game will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday back in Truman against the winner of Friday’s elimination bracket finals.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye Post 7’s Marcus Martinez yells in celebration while running to third after Kessler Severson’s go-ahead home run in the DII Southwest Sub-State Legion Baseball Tournament semifinals against Luverne on Sunday afternoon in Truman.

Friday’s elimination bracket will feature a 5 p.m. game between Wabasso and St. James, with the winner playing Luverne in the elimination finals later that night. The winner of that game will then meet Sleepy Eye on Saturday.

If Sleepy Eye wins its 11 a.m. game Saturday, it will move on to the state tournament in Ely. A loss in that game by Sleepy Eye would trigger a 1 p.m. second finals game with a state berth on the line.

Severson did a little of everything on Sunday, including pitching a scoreless sixth inning in relief of starting right-hander Cody Schultz, who got the win in five innings after allowing four hits and three walks for three runs, two earned. Schultz struck out two.

Severson finished 1 for 1 with his big homer and also reached twice on walks, scoring twice in the game. Austin Uecker, the leadoff man for Post 7, went 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored, while Kayden Klein was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI and Talan Helget was 1 for 4 with an RBI double.

Brandon Schmitz pitched the seventh and while he allowed a single to Colton Haubrich to lead off the inning, he snagged a liner back to him right after that and ran to first for a double play. An error allowed Carter Sehr, who finished 2 for 4 with an RBI, to reach and keep Luverne alive before singles by Blake Sauer and Alex Schlosser scored Sehr. Schmitz then forced a grounder off the bat of Landyn Lais, which was scooped up by second baseman Tyler Mathiowetz, who stepped on second for the forceout to end the game.

Sehr pitched five innings and took the loss, allowing eight hits and three walks for six runs, five earned, while striking out four. Sauer pitched two perfect innings in relief.

A Lais double to right scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first for Luverne, and Luverne added another run in the second on a sac fly from Landon Ahrendt.

Severson led off the third with a walk before a single by Mathiowetz and a bunt by Austin Uecker led to an error to load the bases. Helget grounded into a double play after that, but it put Sleepy Eye’s first run on the board as Severson scored.

Then came Severson’s big three-run homer in the fourth to give his team its first lead of the day and momentum boost it needed.

“I felt like it really sparked us,” Severson said. “We started hitting gap shots, left-center again, I think we had one to right-center, I feel like it really sparked us to get going and get back on top.”

Despite starting that fourth inning with a groundout and a strikeout, Sleepy Eye got a big double from Klein to keep the inning going before a walk to Marcus Martinez put two on for Severson.

Not content with the two-run lead, Sleepy Eye added two more runs in the fifth inning on an RBI double to right by Helget and an RBI single to left by Klein. The inning saw Sleepy Eye collect four hits, starting with a double from Austin Uecker and ending on a single by little brother Carson Uecker.

Luverne got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Sehr to make it 6-3.

NOTE: An extended story with comments from Post 7 head coach Zach Haala will be included in Tuesday’s issue of The Journal and updated online Tuesday.