Baseball: Pederson, Warriors disperse GR in 76 minutes

By Michael Bialka

May 05, 2015 at 8:52 PM

Warriors 5,

Grand Rapids 1

The key: Chris Pederson pitched a 3-hitter

Overall: Brd 6-5, GR 5-6

Next: Brainerd at St. Cloud Tech 7 p.m. Thursday.

Chris Pederson was almost as quick as the blink of an eye.

The lanky Brainerd junior right-hander needed just 70 pitches and 76 minutes to dispose of the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks as he tossed a 3-hitter in the Warriors' 5-1 non-conference win Tuesday at Adamson Field.

Pederson benefited from two double plays and Brainerd opened the second half of its schedule by going over the .500 mark at 6-5.

"It's always great seeing the guys turn double plays behind you," Pederson said. "Finally, I think we're getting our swagger back."

The Warriors may have lost a little swagger after a 7-4 loss to Moorhead their last time out April 30.

"The best thing to make you forget a loss is to win a game," Warriors coach Lowell Scearcy said. "We're happy with the win. Now hopefully we can keep playing a little better defense as we go."

Brainerd collected eight hits, three by center fielder Evan Brecht, and hit several other balls on the screws.

"It was nice to see us play better defense. That was No. 1," Scearcy said, "and we had some guys that had a pretty good day hitting the ball, like Evan. We also had some guys that hit the ball hard that didn't get a hit. If you hit the ball hard, they're going to drop in for you."

Evan Brecht delivered RBI singles in the third and fifth innings to give Brainerd 4-1 and 5-1 leads.

The Warriors bolted in front 3-0 in the second when Logan Madsen was hit with the bases-loaded, Grand Rapids lefty Gunnar Harris uncorked a wild pitch with the bases jammed and Jake Meyer followed with a sacrifice fly.

Grand Rapids scored its only run in the third on Drew Sjostrand's RBI groundout.

Pederson threw 48 strikes, including first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 26 Thunderhawks he faced. He walked only two batters and hit one.

"I threw my fastball and curveball only today. Both were working pretty well for me," Pederson said. "I was just trusting Matt (Casperson) back there calling the game."

Tanner Shephard's single in the first was the Thunderhawks' only clean hit. Warrior outfielders Evan Brecht and Jake Meyer attempted diving and sliding catches, respectively, on the other two hits by Kenn Hasbargen in the fourth and Kyle Stram in the seventh.

Grand Rapids 001 000 0 - 1 3 2

Brainerd 031 010 x - 5 8 1

Grand Rapids: Gunnar Harris, Drew Sjostrand (6) and Tanner Shephard.

Brainerd: Chris Pederson and Matt Casperson.

WP: Pederson (2-0).

LP: Harris.

SB: Brd-Tory Miller, Logan Madsen

Sac: Brd-Hayden Bukowski, Tristan Brecht; GR-Noah Johnson

SF: Brd-Jake Meyer

RBIs: Brd-Madsen, Meyer, Evan Brecht 2; GR- Drew Sjostrand

DP: Brd 2

LOB: Brd 6, GR 4