ROCORI Falls In First Round Of Section 8-3A Playoffs

COLD SPRING -- After obtaining the third seed in the Section 8-3A Playoffs, the ROCORI Spartans baseball team opened up the section tournament on Tuesday, May 31 in Cold Spring.

The Spartans ended up falling to fourth-seeded Sauk Rapids 9-4 in the game at the Cold Spring Baseball Park, dropping ROCORI into the losers' bracket portion of the Section 8-3A Playoffs.

The Spartans dug into the Storm lead in the third inning of the first-round matchup, scoring two runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth inning, but couldn't complete a comeback by the end of the game.

At the plate, Beck Loesch went 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored, Cole Fuchs went 2-for-2 with one run scored and Brady Blattner went 1-for-4 with two RBI to lead ROCORI. Joel Sowada and Thad Lieser added one hit each and Jack Spanier drove in one run.

Blattner started the game on the mound for the Spartans, pitching the first 1 2/3 innings. Tyler Lardy pitched the following 2 1/3 innings in relief, giving up four hits and two earned runs, while Evan Acheson pitched three shutout innings with three strikeouts to round out the game.

With the loss, ROCORI drops into the losers' bracket of the Section 8-3A Playoffs and will take the field again on Thursday, June 2.