Detroit Lakes, MN – The Jamestown Miller Lite Merchants went 2-1 this past weekend to take home third-place in this year’s Detroit Lakes Angels Invitational.

The Merchants started the weekend off with a first round win over the Richmond Royals. Greg Lunski, Turner Storm, and Steve Hirchert fired a combined 1-hitter to open the tournament.  Steve Hirchert shut the door in the seventh to get his first save of the season as the Merchants held on for a 2-1 victory.

In his only at bat of the game, Bryan Erstad hit a solo home run in the bottom half of the first to tie the game at one. Tony Viger brought home the winning run with an RBI single in the fourth.

On Saturday, the semi-finals had the Merchants square off against the hometown Angels.

Merchant starter Brandon Baumgartner gave the Merchants an average outing on the mound, he allowed unearned runs in the first and third innings to give the Angels a 2-0 lead through four innings.

The Merchant bats started to shake off the Zorbaz/Wildflower golf rust in the fifth as they scored two runs to tie the game up. However, Baumgartner would give the lead right back to Detroit Lakes in the bottom half of the fifth as he served up a solo home run, that would end up being the difference as the M’s lost 3-2.

Tony Viger and Andrew “Puke” Hill each had two hits for the Merchants in the loss.

In the third-place game, the Merchants faced off against the Jamestown Elks. Seven strong innings by Sam Hirchert were enough to give the Merchants a 5-2 victory.

The Merchant offense still wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders. However, the Elks kicked the ball around just enough as the Merchants scored three of their five runs on wild pitches and another on an error.

The Miller Lite Merchants (7-2) are back in action this Wednesday against the Mayville Redcaps at No Name Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:11 PM. The first fan in attendance gets a free Slurpee courtesy of 7-Eleven.