Spartans Step Up Late To Top Cardinals

COLD SPRING — The scorching hot ROCORI Spartans remained on Thursday, May 8, welcoming in the Willmar Cardinals to Cold Spring in a Central Lakes Conference contest.

The winning ways continued for ROCORI, stepping up late to take down Willmar 4-3 at the Cold Spring Baseball Park and win the Spartans' ninth game in a row.

The Spartans got on the board first in the contest, bringing home one run in the bottom of the second before the Cardinals evened things back up with a run in the top of the third. In the sixth frame, ROCORI broke the game open with three runs while holding Willmar to just two runs in the seventh to pull out the win.

Jace Griffin went a perfect 2-for-2 with one run scored to pace ROCORI, with Jake Stalboerger and Max Fredin each adding one hit and one RBI. Noah Olmscheid, Cal Heying and Gabe Sauza all recorded one hit for the Spartans.

Tyler Prom went the distance and earned a complete-game win, pitching all seven innings while giving up just four hits, three runs, two walks and striking out five.

With the win, ROCORI improves to 10-2 overall on the season and sits near the top of the Central Lakes Conference with a conference record of 7-2. Next up for the Spartans is a nonconference battle against Monticello at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 9. The game is ROCORI's annual Alumni Night and will recognize the 2010 championship team on the field prior to the game.