Eight days remain in the regular season for amateur baseball teams in Region 13C.
Fairmont has the inside track on the number one seed in the First Nite League and Luverne is in control of the race for the top spot in the Gopher League.
The number two seed is up for grabs and both leagues and that second spot is important as well.
With Mountain Lake’s decision this week that it will forfeit the remainder of its games this season due to a lack of players, the top two teams in both the FNL and Gopher will receive a bye in the league playoff round directly into the Region 13C Playoffs.
Fairmont has a one-game lead for the number one seed in the First Nite League with three games left to be played, and Luverne has a 1 1/2 game lead in the Gopher League with four games remaining.
A couple of games in each league could be important in some shuffling of the order of the teams in the standings.
In the First Nite League, Jackson plays at Windom Sunday and at Fairmont on Wednesday. The Bulls also have a league game at Wacker Field vs. Worthington Sunday and nonleague games vs. Hadley and the Milroy Yankees.
The Milroy Irish are at Hadley today, and then the Buttermakers visit Luverne Wednesday.
The league playoffs open Wednesday, July 19 and the region playoffs start on Wednesday, July 26. Each matchup is a best-of-three series.
Standings
First Nite League
Fairmont Martins 12-3
Windom Pirates 11-4
Jackson Bulls 10-5
Lakefield Frogs 7-8
Fox Lake Foxes 6-9
Heron Lake Lakers 5-10
Mountain Lake Lakers 0-18
Gopher League
Luverne Redbirds 12-1
Milroy Irish 11-3
Hadley Buttermakers 10-4
Worthington Cubs 5-10
Pipestone A's 4-10
Ruthton Royals 3-11
Sunday, July 9
Fox Lake at Luverne, 12 p.m.
Jackson at Windom, 2 p.m.
Lakefield at Heron Lake, 2 p.m.
Milroy Irish at Hadley, 2 p.m.
Pipestone at Luverne, 2 p.m.
Worthington at Jackson, 5 p.m.
Ruthton at Windom, 5 p.m.
Wednesday July 12
Jackson at Fairmont, 7:30 p.m.
Fox Lake at Lakefield. 7:30 p.m.
Hadley at Luverne, 7:30 p.m.
Pipestone at Milroy Irish, 7:30 p.m.
Worthington at Ruthton, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 13
Hadley at Jackson, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 14
Blue Earth at Windom, 7:30 p.m.
Fairmont at New Ulm, 7:30 p.m.
Luverne at Sioux Falls Brewers, 7:30 p.m.
Milroy Irish at Raymond, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 15
Heron Lake at Fairmont, 5 p.m.
Sunday, July 16
Lakefield at Hadley, 2 p.m.
Pipestone at Windom, 2 p.m.
Fairmont at Fox Lake, 2 p.m.
Luverne at Ruthton, 2 p.m.
Milroy Irish at Heron Lake, 2 p.m.
Milroy Yankees at Jackson, 4 p.m.
Iowa update
One current and two former Jackson Bulls have completed their seasons coaching high school baseball teams in Iowa.
Andy Wolf completed his first season as coach at Okoboji with a 14-13 record. The Pioneers were 8-8 in the Siouxland Conference.
In the Class 2A District 1 tournament, Okoboji defeated Sheldon 9-2 in the first round before losing to Forest City 14-5 in the quarterfinals. Forest City shut out Estherville Lincoln Central 2-0 on the Midgets home field for the district title Saturday and will play West Lyon in a substate game Tuesday in Sioux Center.
Briar Rowley’s Emmetsburg squad also played in the Class 2A Distrct 1 tourney, losing to Sioux Center 7-6 in the opening round. The E-Hawks finished the season 8-13, 5-5 in the Twin Lakes Conference.
And Jared Rahe’s Harris-Lake Park team finished the season 7-17, 4-7 in the War Eagle Conference. The Wolves fell 3-0 to West Hancock in the first round of the Class 1A District 1 tournament.
Fairmont grad update
Fairmont High School graduate Eli Anderson is hitting .422 for the Maunesha River Rats of the Dairyland Collegiate League. In 18 games he has 27 hits in 64 at bats. He’s also walked 10 times for an on-base percentage of .494.
Anderson has four doubles, three triples, eight runs batted in and has scored 20 runs.
The Rats have a record of 10-9 and 2 1/2 games out of first place.
Another Fairmont grad, Luke Becker, is playing with the Spire City Ghost Hounds of the Atlantic League, based in Fredrick, Maryland.
He’s hitting .229 (47-205) in 57 games and has walked 36 times for an OBP of .363.
Becker has eight doubles, one triple, six homers, 19 RBI and scored 39 runs.
The Ghost Hounds are 0-1 in the Atlantic League’s second half after going 26-37 in the first half.