St. Peter town team is on a record-setting season

By Pat Beck, St. Peter Herald

The Saints set what 26th-year manager Tom Lacina believes are team records for runs and hits in a game in a 28-9, 25-hit win over New Ulm Kaiserhoff July 15 at Johnson Park. Lacina said St. Peter had 22 runs about nine years ago against Belle Plaine.

"It was just one of these games where hitting is contagious," Lacina said. "Everybody was hitting the ball well that night. We've hit up and down the line-up. There hasn't been any one guy carrying us. If somebody has a bad game, somebody else picks it up. We've been getting a lot of two-out hits with men on base, which makes a huge difference."

The Saints (14-5, 11-2 RVL) are on a 10-game River Valley League winning streak and have won 12 of their last 13 games.

Lacina thinks the team's added depth and experience has played a key role in the Saints' success.

"We still have our ups and downs," Lacina said. "We're just starting to jell a little bit. We've got a lot of guys now who've got a lot of years in."

The Saints have one of their deepest teams in years, with the addition of three veterans and two rookies right off the high school team.

The newcomers are outfielder Javon Rodriguez and pitchers Luke Schwarz and Alex Klug.

Up from the high school are pitcher Cullen Bruce and first baseman Nate Wenner. 

"You've got to keep getting new youngsters, so you've got arms and legs," Lacina said.

The Saints have a lot of weapons on the mound, in the field and at the plate.

The staff includes Schwarz (3-3), Klug (1-2), Bruce (1-0), Jeff Wenner (4-0), Jesse Anderson (2-0), Jeremy Braun (1-0) and Kevin Sandborg (0-0). Billy Hanson and Shea Roehrkasse are the catchers.

"The whole staff has contributed," Lacina said. "Nobody has got in a huge amount of innings, so arms should be in good shape. The pitchers have been throwing strikes. With wooden bats, if you throw strikes and you field ground balls, you've got a good chance of winning. We've been fielding well. We've had some errors, but most of the errors haven't hurt us."

The Saints have a team-batting average of .317, with 10 better than .300: Sandborg .500, Jordan Wilmes .421, Rodriguez .419, CJ Siewert .375, Sam Wenner .359, Shea Roehrkasse .355, Seth Wenner .349, Jesse Anderson .333, Jeff Menk .328 and Jayme Munsterman .320.

“Hitting has been decent,” Lacina said. "It usually takes us a few innings to get going, but we've been hitting much better."

The Saints have seven games in the next 10 days and then a week off for playoffs: 7:30 p.m. July 20 at Waterville, 7:30 p.m. July 21 vs. Jordan at St. Peter, 6 p.m. July 24 at Gaylord, 7:30 p.m. July 25 vs. Fairfax at St. Peter, July 26 vs. New Ulm Brewers at St. Peter and 7:30 p.m. July 28 at Prior Lake.

The bottom two teams have a play-in game in the Region 6C playoffs July 31. The first round is 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5. Three teams in the region qualify for state.

"If we don't look past anybody, we should get back to state," Lacina said. "We're just waiting for a time when we make a little noise there, instead of one and done."