No-Hitter, Offensive Outburst Leads ROCORI To Doubleheader Sweep

RICHMOND -- The ROCORI Spartans hosted their first doubleheader of the 2023 season on Tuesday, April 25 while welcoming the Fergus Falls Otters to Royal Park in Richmond.

At the end of the night, dominant pitching performances and offensive outbursts lifted ROCORI to a sweep of the doubleheader over Fergus Falls.

In Game 1, Hunter Fuchs was dominant on the hill for the Spartans, tossing a no-hitter while pacing ROCORI to a 4-1 victory. Fuchs finished with just 93 pitches on the mound, tallying 11 strikeouts while allowing one unearned run en route to recording the 17th no-hitter in program history and the first since 2018.

To go along with Fuchs' performance on the mound, ROCORI finished with eight hits as a team, led by Jack Boos and Thad Lieser with two hits and one RBI a piece. Brady Schafer and Brady Weber added one hit and one RBI while Jack Spanier and Blake Tylutki notched one hit and one run scored.

In Game 2, the Spartans backed up a strong performance in Game 1 with an offensive outburst that resulted in nine hits and nine runs in a 9-6 win to complete the sweep.

Brady Schafer led the charge at the plate for ROCORI, finishing 3-for-4 with a home run, double, three RBI and two runs scored. Blake Tylutki drove in two runs, Jack Boos and Hunter Heidgerken tallied one hit and one RBI, and Evan Acheson, Brady Weber, Logan Bauer and Luke Van Erp each added a hit.

Bauer started the game on the mound for the Spartans, pitching the first 3 1/3 innings while giving up six hits, two runs and striking out one in a no-decision. Heidgerken entered the game in relief and pitched the final 3 2/3 innings to get the win, giving up three hits, two earned runs, three walks and striking out three.

With the pair of victories, ROCORI improves to 2-1 overall and 2-1 in Central Lakes Conference action this season. Next up on the schedule for the Spartans is a conference battle against Sartell at 5 p.m. on April 27 in Cold Spring.