Warriors' Thompson does it all
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
Trevor Thompson took matters into his own hands.
After limiting St. Cloud Tech to two hits and one run in seven innings, the Brainerd Warriors pitcher came to bat in the bottom of the seventh with two out.
With teammate Kyle Crocker at first base following a single, Thompson ripped a fastball from reliever Nick Roeder. Tech left fielder Robbie Winter dove for the ball and it skipped past him to the fence, allowing Crocker to score for a 2-1 victory at Adamson Field.
Thompson's hitting - he was the only player with two hits - and pitching, along with fine fielding, led Brainerd to its fifth victory in five games.
Trevor Thompson
The senior right-hander struck out six and walked one. Robbie Winter's solo home run, about 340 feet to left, in the second was the only Tech run off Thompson, who retired the last 16 batters after the home run.
"I had control of my fastball and just mixed it up," Thompson said.
He threw 87 pitches, 56 strikes. He threw the first pitch for a strike to 13 of 24 Tigers. Thompson struck out the leadoff batter five times.
Warriors 2, Tech 1
The key: Trevor Thompson doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
Conference: Brd 4-0, SCT 1-1
Overall: Brd 5-0, SCT 2-1
Next: Brainerd vs. Rocori at Cold Spring 5 p.m. Thursday.
"When you keep throwing strikes, that's the key," Warriors coach Lowell Scearcy said. "You can just about predict with Trevor if he's got strike one on a guy the guy's probably going to be out. When he got in trouble, the home run, and in the first inning, he was pitching behind the hitters. A good team's going to get you then."
After retiring the first two batters in the first, Thompson issued a walk and Roeder singled. He then struck out Collin Stinogel.
"We were a little worried about him (Monday)," Scearcy said. "We were taking batting practice and he fouled a ball off his ankle. We were thinking we might have to go with Nick Rardin today, but thankfully Trevor came out and did a good job."
So did Brainerd's defense. Shortstop Kyle Schaible led the way with seven assists. He had a nice catch and throw behind second base and threw out a runner who bounced a ball off Rardin's chest at third base.
"We've been playing pretty good defense this year," Schaible said. "The