Local shorts

The Brainerd Braves remained unbeaten in 13 amateur baseball games with a 14-4 win over St. Mathias in the St. Mathias tournament Friday.

Ben House broke up a no-hitter by Brainerd's Tony Whitlock with a solo home run in the sixth. Whitlock finished with a 5-hitter, struck out eight, walked two and permitted four earned runs.

Jade O'Brien and Nick Weiland hit 3-run homers for the Braves. O'Brien, whose home run ended the game in the seventh, finished 3-for-5 with three runs. Weiland homered in the third. Nic Hanson was 3-for-5 with two runs, a double and three RBI and Brad Streiff was 3-for-4 with two runs for the Braves.

St. Mathias 000 001 3 --4 5 2

Braves 005 303 3 --14 15 4

St. Mathias -- Matt Parker, Eric Pikula (6) and Jamie LaDouceur. Braves -- Tony Whitlock and Chris Studer. W -- Whitlock. L -- Parker. HR, Braves, O'Brien, Weiland. Next game -- Braves vs. Shell's Blue Sox Saturday at St. Mathias.

Five area players academic all-state

Two fast-pitch softball players from Aitkin and three from Little Falls have been named to the academic all-state team.

Amanda Catlin and Marissa Chatelle were Aitkin's representatives. Daniell Baum, Laura Sperl and Jenney Tonsager of Little Falls made the team.

VFW team beats, ties Sartell

The Brainerd sophomore VFW baseball team opened its season Thursday with a 12-2 win and 3-3 tie against Sartell.

In the first game Jason Goerges pitched five innings, allowing only two hits and striking out eight while walking six, to earn the win. Ryan Browning pitched a perfect sixth before Brainerd ended the game via the 10-run rule. Brainerd's Matt Aberle was 3-for 4 with two RBI, Ben

Winterfeld 2-2 with a double and RBI, Joey Tautges 2-3 with two doubles and two RBI and J.P. Platisha 2-3 with two RBI.

The second game ended in a 3-3 tie due to time constraints. Ben Winterfeld pitched three strong innings before being relieved in the fifth by Ryan Browning, who had one of two Brainerd hits. Winterfeld had a double in the third.

Game 1

Sartell 001 100 --2 2 5

Brainerd 220 701 -- 12 12 0

Sartell -- Strewge and Knettel. Brainerd -- Goerges, Browning (6) and Herbst.

Game 2

Sartell 000 21 -- 3 8 1

Brainerd 021 00 -- 3 2 1

Sartell -- Ertl, Oscarson (2) and Feneis. Brainerd -- Winterfeld, Browning (5) and Bower.

Litchfield defeats Bees

Litchfield defeated the Brainerd Bees 14-5 in the St. Cloud amateur tournament Wednesday.

Jake Vincent was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI for Brainerd. The Bees' Josh Smith was 2-for-3 with a double and solo home run and Jake Francis hit a 2-run homer for the Bees. Mike Shogren (2-2) was the losing pitcher.

The Bees (5-5) were scheduled to play Sauk Centre Saturday at Faber Field in St. Cloud.

Nisswa 12, Pequot Lakes 3

PEQUOT LAKES -- Nick Storm pitched a complete game to lead the Nisswa Legion baseball team to a 12-3 season-opening win over Pequot Lakes Thursday.

Storm gave up seven hits and three runs. Adam Hahn was 1-for-4 with two RBI for Nisswa and teammates Chad Kratochwill and Dan Vopatek each had two hits.

Mike Hagen homered for Pequot Lakes.

Nisswa 300 040 5 -- 12 12 1

Pequot Lakes 000 012 0 -- 3 7 7

Nisswa -- Nick Storm and Hassan Hamad; Pequot Lakes -- Mike Lambert and A. Carry. WP -- Storm. LP -- Lamber. HR -- PL-Mike Hagen. Overall -- Nisswa 1-0. Next game -- Nisswa vs. Crosby-Ironton Monday.