Saints claim High Life Invite championship

Posted June 24, 2014


Saints claim High Life Invite championship

The St. Peter amateur baseball team broke through with its first tournament championship in three decades by going 4-0 and winning the 16-team Miller High Life Invite Saturday and Sunday at Arlington.

St. Peter 11, Watertown 1 

In the first game against Watertown, the Saints won 11-1 in five innings behind the six-hit pitching of Jesse Anderson. He allowed one run on no walks and five strikeouts.

St. Peter collected 13 hits, led by Billy Hanson who went 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs.

Jordan Wilmes was perfect at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three runs.

Shea Roehrkasse also was perfect at 2-for-2 with four RBIs.

Jesse Munsterman batted 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs.

The Saints scored four in the second inning on three hits, three walks, an error and a sacrifice. Hanson walked with the bases loaded, Munsterman hit a sacrifice fly to score a run, and Roehrkasse hit a two-run single.

The Saints added three runs in the third inning. Hanson plated Wilmes with a single and Roehrkasse hit another two-run single.

St. Peter capped the scoring rout in the fourth with four more runs on four hits and three walks. Ty Kaus, Hanson, Munsterman and Seth Wenner each had an RBI in the frame.

St. Peter 4, Bird Island 1

In the quarterfinals against Bird Island, Matt Lewis' pitching was the story of the game. Lewis shut down the No. 6 ranked Class C team in the state. He struck out 13, walked two and allowed four hits and one earned run in seven innings.

Hanson and Munsterman had multiple hits again for the Saints who totaled six hits. Hanson went 2-for-3 with two runs. Munsterman finished 2-for-4 with one run and two RBIs.

St. Peter ended the shutout in the fifth inning as Kaus walked and Hanson singled. Munsterman then knocked in Kaus with a single. Two batters later, Jeff Menk walked with the bases loaded. Munsterman later scored from third on a wild pitch to give the Saints a 3-0 lead.

Bird Island got on the scoreboard in the sixth on two singles.

St. Peter added an insurance run in the bottom half after Hanson reached on an error and moved to second. Hanson then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Munsterman single.

St. Peter 3, Owatonna 2

In the semifinals against Owatonna, Jordan Seebach threw a great game, keeping the Owatonna batters off balance all game. Seebach allowed two runs on five hits, one walk and four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

Owatonna is not ranked in the top 10 but did receive votes in the latest poll.

Menk went 2-for-2, and and five other Saints had a hit each with the  big blow by Munsterman, a two-run, inside the park homer.

After two scoreless innings, St. Peter put two runs on the board in the third inning with a two-out rally. Hanson doubled and Munsterman followed with an inside-the-park home run. Munsterman hit a deep line drive to the right-center gap where both outfielders collided, allowing Munsterman to round the bases.

St. Peter added a run in the sixth on another two-out rally. Menk singled and was pinch ran for by Nick Kempenich. Cameron Victor hit a single and Ryan Wenner followed with yet another single to score Kempenich.

The Aces finally got to Seebach in the seventh inning as they hit a triple and single to start the frame with a run. Seebach walked the next batter and gave up another single to make the score 3-2. Munsterman relieved Seebach and got the save with two strikeouts.

St. Peter 11, New London-Spicer 8

St. Peter won a slugfest in the championship against New London-Spicer, 11-8.

Four players had two hits apiece. Ryan Wenner, Munsterman and Wilmes all went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Seth Wenner batted 2-for-5 with one run and three RBIs.

St. Peter took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a single and two fielder’s choices.

With nearly all of their pitching options exhausted, the Saints turned to newcomer Sam Wenner to start on the mound in the championship game. Wenner was thrown in a tough spot and the Twins took advantage of it by scoring four runs in their first five at-bats. Wenner gave up four runs on three hits and two walks.

Wenner gave way to Anderson, who threw five innings the day prior. Anderson got out of the inning without further damage. Anderson pitched four innings with one run on six hits, no walks and two strikeouts.

New London-Spicer increased its lead to 5-2 in the third inning with a run on three singles.

In the fifth inning, the Saints tied the score at 5-5 after Seth Wenner reached on an error, Menk walked and Ryan Wenner walked to load the bases. Lewis then cleared the bases with a double over the center fielder’s head.

St. Peter took a 6-5 lead in the sixth with a two-out rally. Munsterman singled, stole second and scored on a single off the bat of Seth Wenner.

The Twins regained the lead in the bottom half with three runs off Munsterman, who relieved Anderson. Munsterman, who pitched 1 2/3 innings with three runs on two hits, two walks and three strikeouts, left the mound with two outs and two runners in scoring position. Tom Lacina came in relief for his first appearance of the season.

Lacina’s third pitch was sent to the right field fence for a two-run double, giving the Twins an 8-6 lead going into the final inning.

With only three outs left to their name, the Saints responded with five runs to take an 11-8 lead. Victor and Ryan Wenner singled, and Lewis loaded the bases with a walk. CJ Siewert then plated a run with a walk. With the bases still loaded, Wilmes scored a run on a fielder’s choice. Hanson followed with an RBI single and Seth Wenner scored two runs with another single to give the Saints a three-run lead.

After giving up a lead-off single to start the bottom half, Lacina earned the win and secured the tournament championship with a fly out and two strikeouts, the second being a called third strike to win the game. Lacina threw 1 2/3 innings with no runs on two hits, no walks and two strikeouts.

Munsterman was named the High Life Invite MVP. In four games he went 7-for-14 with five runs, six RBIs, three stolen bases, a walk, home run and sacrifice. He also pitched 2 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and a save.

St. Peter (12-2) journeys to Fairfax at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Belle Plaine at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Prior Lake at 6 p.m. Sunday before returning home to play the Cleveland Spiders at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 2 in their annual match-up at Veterans Field.




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