Coach enjoys competing in Brainerd invitational

A win or a loss was not the most important thing on the mind of Minneapolis Patrick Henry coach Dave Wicker Friday night.

Wicker is just always glad his team gets a chance to compete in the Brainerd Invitational.

"They do such a nice job; they have such a nice field," said Wicker, who has been coach at Patrick Henry for 15 years and was a student-teacher in the Brainerd school system. "This is really a treat for us. Some of the fields we play on don't have grass infields or fences in the outfield.

"They were playing mostly their B-squad tonight," Brainerd coach Lowell Scearcy said of the fact Henry was missing 12 players so they could attend their senior prom. "Their baseball program was struggling when he took over and he has done a super job. They were conference champions last year."

Catching dilemma

Since two Warrior catchers went down with injuries, the Warriors have played the last two games with only one catcher on their roster -- Hasan Hamad.

First it was starter Kyle Berg. The senior leadoff batter suffered a pulled hamstring Tuesday running out a ground ball. Scearcy said he could have played Friday but the coach decided to wait until he was free of pain. Berg was expected to start at least one game on Saturday, Scearcy said.

Bob Brown, a junior catcher, was the next to go down. Scearcy said he strained some ligaments in his ankle this week in practice and could be out more than two weeks.

But Scearcy said Hamad (or Hoss as his teammates call him) has filled in for Berg more than admirably.

"Hasan is a great kid," Scearcy said. "He's a kid you can count on and does all the little things. Plus, he's just an excellent defensive catcher who can also hit. You hate to see Kyle get hurt but it's nice to see Hoss get in there and play."