Warriors win second game with Alexandria
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
ALEXANDRIA - Trevor Howard pitched a complete game and Kyle Crocker and Rob Veith each had three hits to help the Brainerd Warriors defeat Alexandria 9-1 Tuesday in the second game of a Central Lakes Conference doubleheader.
Howard had six strikeouts and walked one while allowing just three hits.
Crocker was 3-for-5 with a double, three runs and two stolen bases. Veith was 3-4 with two stolen bases, Nate Smolke was 1-3 with two RBIs, Reid Mimmack was 2-4 with a double and Tate Rusk was 2-3.
"Trevor pitched very well," Warriors coach Lowell Scearcy said. "The wind was blowing in, the air was really heavy. Several balls would have been hit out of anywhere else. Smolke hit a couple, Crocker hit one or two. It was like they hit a wall out there, but it was like that for them too, not just for us."
Trevor Howard
In the first game, Smolke was 2-3 with a triple and Travis Whirley was 2-3 as the Warriors lost 5-1. Crocker was 1-4 with a double, Rusk had a pinch-hit double and Joel Martin was 1-3.
Dan Bendzick took the loss. In five innings, he had two strikeouts, and walked six. Brett Jenkins pitched the final inning.
"The first game we couldn't get anything together at all," Scearcy said. "The second game they had the same thing. It was the kind of day you wouldn't have known the same two teams were playing the two games."
Scearcy was impressed with the artificial turf that has been installed at Knute Nelson Field.
"It played much better than I expected," he said. "We weren't getting big hops like I thought we would. It played like a good grass infield. I was impressed. It has really added to their diamond.
"We played good defense. Maybe that had something to do with it. We had no errors in the two games."
Game One
Brainerd 1 7 0
Alexandria 5 7 1
WP: Shawn Krueger. LP: Dan Bendzick.
Game Two
Brainerd 9 13 0
Alexandria 1 3 4
WP: Trevor Howard. LP: Derek Miller. Conference: Brd 6-4. Overall: Brd 11-4. Next: St. Cloud Apollo at Brainerd 5 p.m. Thursday.