Baseball: Brainerd falls to STMA in section game

BRAINERD — Zach Romans pitched a complete game for the St. Michael-Albertville Knights as they beat the Brainerd Warriors 6-2 in a Section 8-4A game Tuesday, May 17, at Adamson Field.

Romans struck out seven in seven innings pitched and walked one. He gave up two runs, one in the sixth and one in the seventh.

“He just threw the other day and didn’t have a good outing,” STMA head coach Paul Schumm said. “It was good to see him come out and just pound the zone today.”

Adam Jensen started for the Warriors and pitched 4.2 innings and allowed five hits and walked four. He allowed four runs, two earned.

“I think mentally we played better,” Warriors head coach Trent Grams said. “Adam Jensen pitched his butt off and Carter Springer kept us in it all the way until the end. The fight was better. We still aren’t happy with the result, but we need to just keep getting better.

“Adam was a bulldog tonight. We are proud of his effort and what he’s given us. We just need to play better behind him.”

STMA scored one in the first and one in the second to take a 2-0 lead. Kaden Amundson ripped one of his two doubles and scored on a Matthew Maulik triple in the first inning.

In the second inning, a leadoff walk came around to score on a sacrifice fly.

Jensen pitched a scoreless third and fourth inning while the Warrior hitters mustered just one hit, a Isaac Hanson double, through four innings.

In the top of the fifth, STMA scored two. Amundson ripped an RBI double and later scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Warriors made a rally in the bottom of the sixth. Alex Helmin led off with a single and scored on a mile-high infield pop fly that wasn’t caught with two outs.

In the seventh, STMA got two insurance runs on a two-run home run by Hayden Olson. Springer, who pitched the last 2.1 innings, gave up the two-out, two-run bomb to right center.

“We’ve been talking to them all year about getting those clutch hits when we need them and Hayden really stepped up,” Schumm said. “He did the same thing yesterday.”

Brainerd got the first two batters on base in the seventh. Riley DeRosier, who doubled in the fifth, walked and Jack Schafer followed with a single. After back-to-back outs, DeRosier scored on a wild pitch before Hanson struck out to end the game.

Brainerd moves to 5-9 and heads on the road Thursday to St. Cloud.

“We just need to be playing our best baseball by the end of next week,” Grams said. “We have one more game this week against a section opponent and we need a win like that to build some momentum.”

STMA 6, Brainerd 2
Key: STMA Zach Romans pitched a complete game for the Knights
Overall: Brd 5-9, STMA 12-4.
Next: Brainerd at St. Cloud 7 p.m. Thursday, May 19.

CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.