Inside-the-park homer not enough for Lunkers

ST. CLOUD - The Lunkers closing pitcher Drew Smith struggled from the mound as he faced seven batters and surrendered four runs as the St. Cloud River Bats defeated the Lunkers 9-8 Friday night at Faber Field.

The loss marks Drews' fourth blown save in 19 attempts.

Following four innings of scoreless baseball, the Lunkers scored six runs in the fifth inning as they ran through their entire lineup plus one. Stephen Wickens, Michael Gedman, and Nate Hammes each collected doubles and Justin Gominsky had a base-clearing triple during the big inning.

The River Bats responded by scoring five runs in the next three innings to draw the score to 6-5 at the end of the seventh.

In the top of the ninth inning with one out and Hunter Nolen on second, Will Piwnica-Worms pinch hit and gave the Lunkers a three run lead as he belted a pitch to right-center field and raced around the bases for the first inside-the-park homerun in franchise history.

The loss drops the Lunkers to 25-26 overall and 9-9 in the second half. They will return to Mills Field Saturday to face the Mankato MoonDogs at 7:05 p.m.

Brainerd 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 2 - 8 12 2

St. Cloud 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 4 - 9 14 0

Brd: Brad Mergen, Bret Severtson, Luke Rasmussen, Mike Frongello, Drew Smith

St. Cloud: Pedro Ramos, Andrew Burkett, Barry Rooks, Connor Lambert

WP: Connor Lambert. LP: Drew Smith.

2B: Brd- Stephen Wickens, Michael Gedman, Hunter Nolen (2), StC-Jonathan Roof, Zac Richard

3B: Brd-Justin Gominsky

HR: Brd- Will Piwnica-Worms, StC-Matt Fanelli

SB: Brd-Gominsky, Shon Roe, StC-Roof (2)

RBIs:Brd-Gedman, Gominsky, Piwnica-Worms, Nate Hammes, Zach Stewart, StC-Brian Humphries, Roof, Matt Summers, Richard, Fanelli, Dan Betteridge, Kurt Schlangen

DP: Brd-Gedman, Roe, StC-Roof, Fanelli

LOB: Brd 9, StC 12

T: 3:08

A: 1902

Second-half records: Brd 9-9, StC 12-5

Next: Mankato vs. Brainerd 7:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Mills Field.