Spartans Drop Section Battle Against Willmar

COLD SPRING — The second-seeded ROCORI Spartans returned to the field Thursday, May 29 for the second round of the Section 8-3A Playoffs, taking on the sixth-seeded Willmar Cardinals at the Cold Spring Baseball Park.

Willmar jumped in front of ROCORI early in the contest and the Spartans weren't able to quite claw back, resulting in ROCORI dropping the contest 7-3 and moving into the losers' bracket portion of the section playoffs.

Even with the loss, the Spartans' season is still alive, next playing host to No. 5 Hutchinson at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 31. The winner of that game advances in the losers' bracket, while the loser has their season come to a close.

Noah Olmscheid and Tyler Prom each went 2-for-3 with one RBI and Max Fredin went 2-for-4 to lead ROCORI at the plate. Caleb Maddox added one hit, two runs and two steals, while Jace Griffin, Jake Stalboerger and Cal Heying each tallied one hit.

Stalboerger pitched the first 1.1 innings on the mound, giving up two hits and three runs with one strikeout. Reece Kalla threw the final 5.2 innings, giving up six hits, two earned runs and striking out three.

To view the full Section 8-3A Playoff bracket, click here.