The Waseca Braves were next for the Reds and they made the 13 mile trip north to Tink Larson Field on Friday, June 24. The Braves started the scoring but VanEnglenburg doubled and scored closing the gap to 2-1 in the third. Waseca scored four runs in their half of the fourth inning, but the Reds countered with two of their own in the fifth courtesy of Aaron Gilleland’s RBI. 

Jimmy Loonan put things away in the eighth with a homerun for the host team.

“We made it interesting for a majority of the game getting within one run twice,” said Churchill. “The Braves offense was just too much as they homered twice and consistently hit the ball well.”

Bjorn Peterson started the game on the mound and went 3 1/3 innings. Seth Tukua came on in relief to finish the game. VanEnglenburg and Gilliland had two hits each for the Reds.

Reds 1, Cleveland Spiders 0 (forfeit)

Cleveland Condors 2, Reds 1

The Reds entertained the Condors at Legion Field on Wednesday, June 29. The fans in the stands saw a very close pitchers’ duel as nary a run was scored until Chris Somage crossed home plate for the Reds in the bottom of the eigth inning as Gilliand singled. The Reds were a little sloppy on defense and allowed the Condors to score two in the ninth which were the deciding runs. 11 Reds batters saw their hope to improve their batting averages vanquished by the three strike rule. 

“It was a very well pitched and well played game,” said Churchill. “Vinnie pitched the best game he has all year. He kept them off balance and worked out of a couple jams to keep them scoreless through eight. In the ninth, the defense really let down as two costly errors gave Cleveland the lead 2-1 and eventually the win. It was another disappointing loss after a well played game for us.”