Merchants defeat Athletics 9-2 in Cannon Falls Tourney

CANNON FALLS--The Delano Athletics lost to the Metro Merchants 9-2 in the semifinals of the Josh Harrison Memorial Baseball Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

The Merchants, a Class A team out of the Twin Cities came out swinging, with two runs in the first on a double and a two-run homerun off starting Athletics pitcher, Matt Arens.  The Merchants would score another run in the second on back-to-back doubles, followed up with three more runs in the third inning.

Matt Arens scattered five hits on six runs in two innings of work before being pulled from the game. In relief of Arens, Tyler Hannan pitched four innings, scattered sevens hits, struckout six, and gave up three runs.

Offensively the Athletics were led by Joey Althoff who was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, and Trevor Jaunich, who finished the game 2-for-2 with an RBI.

The tournament will continue on Sunday at 1:45 p.m. as the Athletics will play in the Third Place game versus the Wanamingo Jacks.