Warriors snap out of doldrums

For whatever reason the Brainerd Warriors appeared lethargic in the first few innings of their 5-3 victory over the Rocori Spartans in the third round of the South Subsection 8, Class 3A baseball tournament Monday at Adamson Field.

Maybe it was the fact the top-seeded Warriors had drilled the No. 4 Spartans 14-5 on May 17.

"I feel lucky," Warriors coach Lowell Scearcy said. "I think Rocori played pretty well. I don't think I'm putting them down when I say we didn't play very well, but we got through it.

"It's been a long time with no practice. We need to get to practice (Wednesday) and get back to some basic things, get some cuts in the cage, and see if we can't get everything on track for Wednesday."

South Subsection 8, Class 3A baseball

Thursday, May 24

Little Falls 11, Sartell 8 (Sartell eliminated)

Saturday, May 26

Brainerd 16, Little Falls 4 (5 inn.)

Sauk Rapids 4, St. Cloud Tech 3

St. Cloud Apollo 5, Rocori 4

Monday, May 28

Tech 4, Little Falls 1 (Little Falls eliminated)

Sauk Rapids 8, Apollo 7

Brainerd 5, Rocori 3

Wednesday, May 30

No. 1 Brainerd vs. No. 5 Sauk Rapids, 11 a.m., Adamson Field

No. 2 Tech vs. No. 3 Apollo, 11 a.m., Mills Field

Brainerd/Sauk Rapids loser vs. Tech/Apollo winner, 3 p.m., Adamson Field

Saturday, June 2

Adamson Field, Brainerd

Championship TBA

Maybe it was because of Memorial Day weekend.

Outfielder Dan Kirkpatrick wasn't sure why the Warriors struggled and had to rally for their 10th straight win.

"We were just a little off in the field," Kirkpatrick said. "We had a couple different guys in there because Bob Brown isn't able to catch. We had to move some guys around."

The Warriors started Curtis Caughey at second base instead of Joey Tautges, who replaced Brown behind the plate. They also started Nick Weiland in right field for the first time.

Scearcy said things just weren't flowing smoothly, at bat or on the mound.

"We struggled with the strike zone, hitting and pitching," he said. "We were behind in counts. We didn't seem real sure what was a strike or what was a ball. We have been hot lately up until this game. I hope we haven't lost that and we can find it in practice (Tuesday)."

Even though the Warriors trailed 2-1, Kirkpatrick had faith that Brainerd would rally.

"I have all the confidence in the world in these guys," he said. "If we hit like we know we can hit, like the last couple games, like that one inning here tonight, I don't think there's anyone that can stop us as long as we're hitting like that. There are always off-days. You just hope you don't get one of those."

Sauk Rapids

surprise team

Fifth-seeded Sauk Rapids stunned No. 2 St. Cloud Tech 4-3 in the second round Saturday as two wild pitches resulted in the game-tying and game-winning runs.

On Monday, the Storm rallied from a 5-1 deficit to pin an 8-7 loss on third-seeded Apollo.

"We know Sauk Rapids is a hot team and is playing very well," Scearcy said. "They've got some good pitchers. We will have to be at our best I'm sure."

Tech eliminated No. 7 Little Falls 4-1 in Monday's first game. Tech's Andy Waletzko and Shawn Lindsay hit two-run homers in the first inning and the Tigers held on.

Mike Sobiech's fifth-inning single scored Josh Burgardt, who led off with a single, with the Flyers' only run.

Little Falls 000 010 0 -- 1 5 2

St. Cloud Tech 400 000 x -- 4 7 0

LF -- Matt Martin and Mike Sobiech. Tech -- Ryan Morse and John Nemec. W-Morse. L-Martin. HR-Tech, Waletzko, Lindsay. Overall -- LF finishes 5-17.