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Cold Spring two-out rallies are too much for Brainerd LEGION BASEBALL By Bryce Cloutier Sports Writer With just one more out in a few innings it may have been a different game altogether, but a two-run homer in the second and an eight-run, two-out rally by the Cold Spring Springers in the third proved to be more than enough to dispatch the Brainerd Legion team in a 16-5 loss Tuesday.
Trailing 6-0 in the top of the third after a two-out Cole Schmitz homer in the preceding inning capped a five-run Springer second, reliever Travis Whirley retired two of the first three batters he faced.
Poised to get out of the inning and give the Brainerd bats a chance to cut into the early lead, six of the next seven Cold Spring batters found holes throughout Adamson Field on their way to a 12-0 lead when the dust had finally settled and the third out finally obtained.
Cold Spring collected all 11 of its hits in the first three innings with their three for extra bases proving to be the game's biggest hits.
Eric Loxtercamp drove in the game's first run with an RBI double in the first inning while Schmitz and Mathias Butala slammed two-run homers in the second and third innings with two outs.
"They scored a lot of runs with two outs," Brainerd coach Ray Austin said. "I think they scored three with two outs in the second and then eight with two outs in the top of the third. We just have to work on finishing innings.
"We also have had a hard time so far getting all of our guys here at the same time. The guys that are able to make it are out there playing hard, but we need a game where we have all of our guys to really see what we've got. We are just going to have to regroup and try again on Thursday."
A highlight for Brainerd was the pitching of recent graduate Nate Smolke. Smolke, who had not pitched since VFW baseball in ninth grade, pitched a perfect fifth and sixth with three strikeouts despite a shoulder injury that has plagued him throughout his senior season at BHS and in early Legion play.
"(Nate) has been bugging us to pitch," Austin said. "He has been saying he was all right to pitch and he threw really well actually. He throws hard and he throws strikes so I guess we are going to have to look at adding him to the depth chart for short-inning stuff because he was pretty effective tonight."
Smolke also drove in two of the five Brainerd runs, walking with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third and getting hit by a pitch in the same situation in the seventh.
Brainerd managed to cut into Cold Spring's lead in its last at-bat, putting three runs on the board in the seventh, but it was too little, too late.
Seth Helland finished 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI double and Rob Veith ended up 2-3 with a run scored for Brainerd, which looks to bounce back in a home doubleheader against Bemidji Thursday.
Cold Spring 16 11 1
Brainerd 5 7 2
7 innings
WP: Scott Schroeder. LP: Trevor Howard.
2B: Brd-Joel Martin, Seth Helland; CS-Eric Loxtercamp. HR: CS-Cole Schmitz, Mathias Butala.
Overall: Brd 1-6. Next: Brainerd hosts Bemidji 5 p.m. Thursday at Adamson Field (2).
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