Warriors outscore Tech 18-8

ST. CLOUD - Five Brainerd players had at least two hits as the Warriors belted the St. Cloud Tech Tigers 18-8 in a five-inning Central Lakes Conference game Thursday night at Faber Field.

Rob Veith was 3-for-4 with five RBIs. Nate Smolke was 3-5 with a double and two RBIs. Cody Stange was 2-5 with a double, triple and three RBIs. Travis Whirley was 3-4 with a triple and two RBIs. Desmond Janousek was 2-2 with a walk and Dan Bendzick had a sacrifice fly.

Brainerd rapped 17 hits to the Tigers' eight.

"It was not a good day for pitchers," Warriors coach Lowell Scearcy said. "The wind was blowing real hard to left field. There were a lot of extra-base hits by both teams, a lot of balls hit up the gap. It was a tough day to pitch.

"It was one of those games where you never really felt secure because a team could score four or five runs at any time. We played, overall, not too bad. We made a couple errors. Travis Whirley made a great play at third base, probably the play of the night."

Trevor Howard pitched 2.2 innings for Brainerd with four walks, four hits and three earned runs.

Brett Jenkins got the win with three strikeouts, a walk, four hits and three earned runs in the final 2.1 innings.

Tech's Adam Johnson went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Billy Lange hit a pinch three-run homer in the Tigers' fifth.

In 2.1 innings Johnson gave up nine hits, 11 runs (six earned), walked three and struck out three.

Brainerd 337 32 - 18 17 2

St. Cloud Tech 212 03 - 8 8 4

(5 innings)

WP: Brett Jenkins. LP: Adam Johnson. Conference: Brd 4-1. Overall: Brd 5-1. Next: Brainerd at Princeton tournament 5 p.m. Friday.