Sauk Rapids pins loss on VFW

ST. CLOUD -- If it wasn't for Sauk Rapids the Brainerd VFW would have lost three less games, won the sub-district and District 6 titles and advanced to the state tournament, but a 8-6 loss Wednesday nullified that.

On a perfect baseball day, sunny with a slight breeze, at Putz Field Brainerd came out with the hot bats. After the first two innings they accumulated a 5-0 lead.

"We got ahead and hit the ball pretty well," said Brainerd head coach Joel Lofstrom. "Then they brought in this (James) Dumont guy and we couldn't get anything going against him. He did a good job of keeping us off balance and mixing things up."

Dumont squelchedBrainerd's hopes, giving up only one run over the last five innings. Sauk Rapids rallied behind the pitching, getting four runs in the third and four more in the six to take the lead and the game.

"We played a pretty good game, we just had a couple miscues," Lofstrom said. "They have a good team and they have a lot of guys that play a lot of baseball.

"Our pitchers did fine. Our defense had a couple of problems and Sauk (Rapids) did a good job of capitalizing on our misplays."

Brainerd went through four pitchers. Kevin Mertens started out and went four innings. Drew Boland, Ryan Browning and Ben Winterfeld followed.

Brainerd 230 100 0 -- 6 11 2

Sauk Rapids 004 004 x -- 8 10 2

Brianerd -- Kevin Mertens, Drew Boland (4), Ryan Browning (6), Ben Winterfeld (6) and Lance Herbst; Sauk Rapids -- Nate Swan, James Dumont (4), and Mike lynch. WP -- Dumont. LP -- Browning. Final Record -- 21-16-1.