Big Inning Lifts ROCORI Past Tech

COLD SPRING -- The ROCORI Spartans baseball team secured their first win of the 2019 high school baseball season on Tuesday night in Cold Spring.

The Spartans breezed past St. Cloud Tech 11-3 in a Central Lakes Conference contest at the Cold Spring Baseball Park thanks to a big bottom of the fifth inning that broke things open for good in the win.

With the game tied 3-3 heading into the home half of the fifth inning, ROCORI brought home eight runs to extend the lead and not look back.

Dylan Rausch went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored, Nolan Notch went 1-for-2 with two RBI and one run scored and Brady Klehr went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored to lead the Spartans at the plate in the game.

Jack Steil finished 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored, Rudy Notch went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and one RBI, Max Hansen went 2-for-3 with one run scored and Sam Distel added two runs scored and one RBI for ROCORI.

On the mound, Rudy Notch pitched the first five innings and picked up the win for the Spartans, giving up six hits, two earned runs, one walk and striking out four. Brock Humbert and Nolan Notch each threw one scoreless inning in relief to close out the game.

With the win, ROCORI improves to 1-2 in the Central Lakes Conference and 1-2 overall on the season.

Next up on the Spartans' schedule is a conference road game against Fergus Falls at 5 p.m. on Thursday (April 25), before they return home to host Academy of Holy Angels in a nonconference contest at 5 p.m. on Friday (April 26) in Cold Spring.