Spartans Open Season With Shutout Win Over St. Cloud

COLD SPRING -- After a delay to the start of the regular season due to weather, the ROCORI Spartans Baseball team finally kicked off the year on Tuesday, April 19 at home at the Cold Spring Baseball Park.

ROCORI opened the year up with a bang, shutting out St. Cloud 5-0 in a Central Lakes Conference showdown. The Spartans opened the game up by scoring the first run of the year and of the game in the bottom of the first inning, later adding two runs in each of the third and fourth innings to cruise to victory.

At the plate, ROCORI was led by Brady Schafer who went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Joel Sowada went 2-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI, Beck Loesch went 2-for-3 with one run scored and Jack Spanier finished 1-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI.

On the mound, Brady Blattner threw six stellar shutout innings en route to earning the win. Blattner gave up just four hits, one walk and struck out five batters to grab the victory. Hunter Fuchs came in to pitch the final inning in relief for ROCORI, giving up no runs, one hit, one walk and striking out one.

With the win, the Spartans improve to 1-0 in the Central Lakes Conference and 1-0 overall. ROCORI will return to action on Thursday, April 21 when the Spartans host the Cardinals at 5 p.m. at the Cold Spring Baseball Park. Detroit Lakes will also come to down on Friday, April 22 for a non-conference game starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Cold Spring Baseball Park.