ROCORI Splits Doubleheader With Brainerd In Pair Of Extra Inning Gams

BRAINERD — The ROCORI Spartans hit the road on May 11 to face another Central Lakes Conference opponent, this time being the Brainerd Warriors for a doubleheader at Brainerd High School.

In a pair of close contests, the Spartans and Warriors split the conference doubleheader with two extra-inning games. In Game 1, Brainerd pulled out a 6-5 victory in 11 innings while ROCORI bouncing back in Game 2 to win 3-2 in 10 innings.

In the first game, the two teams held off the scoring until extra innings, with both squads scoring two runs in the eighth inning and one run in the ninth inning. In a game that went 11 innings, ROCORI plated two runs in the top half of the 11th, but Brainerd answered with three runs in the bottom of the 11th to win in walk-off fashion.

At the plate, the Spartans were led by Beck Loesch who went 3-for-5 with one RBI, Jack Spanier went 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI, and Logan Bauer, Grady Notch and Luke Van Erp all added one hit and one RBI.

Loesch took the mound to pitch the first eight innings in Game 1, giving up just five hits, two earned runs and tallying five strikeouts in a no-decision. Logan Bauer threw the final 2 1/3 innings in relief, giving up four hits and three earned runs.

In Game 2, the Warriors kicked off scoring in the game, tallying one run in the top of the second inning before the Spartans took the lead in the fourth with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Brainerd tied things up at 2-2 in the fifth, once again forcing extra innings until Jack Spanier scored the game-winning run in the 10th frame to earn a split of the doubleheader.

ROCORI was led by Spanier at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one runs scored. John Kinzer finished 2-for-4 with one RBI and Hunter Fuchs added one hit and one RBI for the Spartans.

Brady Weber threw the first eight innings for ROCORI, giving up five hits, two earned runs and no walks while striking out four in a no-decision. Logan Bauer earned the win in relief, giving up just two hits, no runs, no walks and striking out one over two innings.

With the split of the doubleheader, ROCORI moves to 7-5 overall on the season and 6-3 in Central Lakes Conference action. Next on the schedule for the Spartans is a nonconference battle against Red Wing at 5 p.m. on May 12 to kick off Alumni Weekend at the Cold Spring Baseball Park.