Nisswa's bats too much for Park Rapids

PARK RAPIDS - The fifth-seeded Nisswa Legion baseball team's bats exploded for 16 hits to defeat No. 4 Park Rapids 9-6 in the Subdistrict 6, Division I play-in game Tuesday.

Nisswa will now take on top-seeded Brainerd 5 p.m. Wednesday at Adamson Field.

Andy MacDonald got the hit parade started when he launched a solo home run over the center field fence in the second inning. After that, the hits just kept coming for Nisswa.

Bronson Shepherd had a pair of doubles and drove in a run while Tom Keller went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Nick Rardin and Kyle Schaible both went 2-5 with a double and a run batted in apiece. Both Trevor Thompson and Tyler Jensen had a pair of hits while Thompson drove in two runs and Jensen scored three times.

Thompson picked up the win in relief as he pitched five innings, giving up one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts. Starter Brett Cloutier gave up three earned runs on four hits while striking out six.

"This is the best we've hit the ball all year," Nisswa coach Collin MacDonald said. "To get five doubles and a home run was big. We also got some solid pitching but the key is that we're hitting the ball as well as we have all year."

Nisswa 9 16 4

Park Rapids 6 8 1

WP-Trevor Thompson. LP-Chris Bruhn. 2B-Nis-Tom Keller, Nick Rardin, Bronson Shepherd 2, Kyle Schaible. HR-Nis-Andy MacDonald; PR-Zach Lehrke, Kyle Blanchard, Grant Biekissing. Overall-Nisswa 8-16. Next-Nisswa at Brainerd at Adamson Field 5 p.m. Wednesday.