Spartans Win Twice In Section 8-3A Playoffs, Advance To Section Championship

ST. CLOUD -- The ROCORI Spartans baseball team was faced with a pair of win-or-go-home games in the Section 8-3A Playoffs on Tuesday, June 8 at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud.

In order to keep their season alive, the Spartans needed to win twice to try and advance to the section championship, and ROCORI did just that against Bemidji and Alexandria. The fourth-seeded Spartans defeated second-seeded Bemidji on Tuesday afternoon, later taking down No. 5 Alexandria to continue their postseason run.

With the pair of victories, ROCORI advances to face top-seeded Sartell at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 10 in the Section 8-3A Championship at Joe Fabre Field. The Spartans will need to take down the Sabres twice, as Sartell comes out of the winners bracket and has yet to lose in the section tournament. If ROCORI were to win the first game, a second game would follow in a winner-take-all match to see who advances to the state tournament.

To kick off action on Tuesday, ROCORI took down Bemidji 2-0 behind two early runs and a dominant performance from Brady Blattner on the mound.

The Spartans jumped out to a lead in the first inning, recording one run in the opening inning and adding another run in the second inning. That was enough run support for Blattner, who threw a complete-game shutout, giving up just four hits, three walks and striking out three.

At the plate for ROCORI, Blattner also went 2-for-3 with one RBI, followed by Joel Sowada's one hit and one RBI. Jayden Philippi, Jack Spanier, Brady Linn and Cam Miller all added one hit.

The Spartans advanced to take on Alexandria shortly after winning their first game, defeating the Cardinals 8-7 thanks to a late-game comeback.

In the second win of the day, ROCORI trailed Alexandria 7-5 after two innings, but scored one run in the fourth inning and two in the bottom of the sixth inning to come back to claim victory.

At the plate for the Spartans, Linn went 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and one RBI, Spanier went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI and Connor Clark, Tanner Rausch and Miller all added one hit and one RBI.

Fuchs started the game on the mound for ROCORI, pitching the first 1 1/3 innings. Linn pitched the final 5 2/3 innings in relief, giving up three hits, no earned runs and striking out six to get credited with the win.

To stay up-to-date with the Spartans in the section championship on Thursday, make sure to follow ROCORI on Gamechanger for live updates or on social media for results.

To view the full Section 8-3A Playoff bracket, click here.