ROCORI Takes Down St. Cloud Apollo In Season Opener

ST. CLOUD -- The ROCORI Spartans baseball team opened the 2021 season off with a bang on Thursday night against St. Cloud Apollo.

The Spartans toppled the Eagles 16-3 at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud to kick off the year, opened the gates of the game with an offensive outburst that put ROCORI ahead right away.

ROCORI began the game by putting up seven runs in the first inning, followed by adding two runs in each the fifth and sixth innings followed by five more runs in the seventh inning.

Leading the way for the Spartans in the game was Brady Blattner, who did a little bit of everything to push ROCORI to victory. Blattner went 1-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and one run scored and also pitched the first three innings on the mound to get the win. Over three innings of work on the hill, Blattner gave up just one hit, no runs and struck out one batter.

Behind Blattner, Jack Spanier finished 2-for-2 with three walks, four RBI and two runs scored, Tanner Rausch added two hits and one run scored, Brady Linn went 1-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored and Luke Humbert went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored.

In relief of Blattner on the mound, Cam Miller pitched two innings and gave up two runs on four hits, while Linn also pitched two innings in relief, striking out five and giving up one run on two hits for the Spartans.

With the win, ROCORI opens the year up with a record of 1-0 in the Central Lakes Conference and 1-0 overall before returning to action on Friday night against Brainerd. The Spartans will battle the Warriors at 5 p.m. Friday (April 16) at Brainerd High School.