St. Peter amateurs looking to get hot down the stretch
Posted July 15, 2013
By CJ Siewert
Many teams in the Minnesota Baseball Association have already begun playoffs and some are actually done with their season. Well, for the St. Peter town team, the rest of its regular season schedule will impose a playoff-like atmosphere as five of the final seven matchups are seeding games – and they’re all on the road.
The run for Region 6C playoffs continues on Friday at fifth place Fairfax. The second place Saints then host the Class A Lyon’s Pub on Saturday for a non-league tilt. On Sunday, its back to RVL action at historic Johnson Park in New Ulm where the local nine will look for a series sweep of the Kaiserhoff.
The River Valley League West standings as of July 15 are as follows (each team plays 13 league games to determine playoff seeding):
1. Gaylord 6-3
2. St. Peter 4-4
3. New Ulm 4-7
4. Arlington 3-7
5. Fairfax 2-7
St. Peter 5, New Ulm Kaiserhoff 2 | Box Score
The Saints hosted their final league game of the season at Veterans Field on Sunday and came away victorious, defeating the New Ulm Kaiserhoff 5-2.
Jesse Anderson earned his first mound win of the season after six innings of work. He gave up two runs on 10 hits. Jeff Wenner closed out the final three frames without allowing a run on one hit and a walk.
After four innings of scoreless baseball, New Ulm struck first with a run in the fifth. But the Saints responded immediately with three in the bottom half. CJ Siewert started the inning with a walk. Billy Hanson then reached on an error, allowing Siewert to move to third. Jesse Munsterman followed with an RBI fielder’s choice. With one out, Shea Roehrkasse hit a double to plate Munsterman and later scored on a single by Jordan Wilmes.
The Kaiserhoff tallied its second run in the sixth after three consecutive singles, but a double play ended the rally.
St. Peter scored one in the sixth after Andy Schroeder singled and scored on a Matt Knutson base hit. The final run of the game in the seventh resulted from a single by Wilmes and throwing error in the next at-bat.
Wilmes led the charge at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a run. Munsterman also had multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with a run.
St. Peter 4, Bird Island 5 | Box Score
The St. Peter amateurs traveled to Bird Island on Saturday and dropped a close 5-4 non-league decision at beautiful Lion’s Memorial Park.
The Saints started early with a run in the first. Ty Kaus walked, stole second and scored on a one-out single by Shea Roehrkasse. The Bullfrogs answered with two runs in the bottom half off starter Jeremy Braun. Two singles and a walk gave the home team the lead.
St. Peter tied the game at two runs apiece in the third after Billy Hanson walked and Roehrkasse followed with his first triple of the season. Once again, the Bullfrogs responded in the bottom half with two more runs on three singles.
In the fourth, the Saints cut the deficit to 3-4 when Mike Enz walked, Tony Vetter singled and CJ Siewert plated Matt Knutson (pinch runner for Enz) with a single.
Bird Island tallied its fifth and final run of the game in the sixth after a walk and two singles, ending Braun’s day on the hill. He allowed three earned runs on 10 hits with two Ks and a walk. Ty Kaus pitched the seventh and eighth and gave up two hits.
The Saints made it interesting in the ninth with a two-out rally. Hanson reached on an error, Roehrkasse singled and Seth Wenner knocked in Hanson with another single, but the rally came to a halt with a pop-out to center to end the game.
Roehrkasse and Wenner led the team at the plate, each going 3-for-5. Roehrkasse had two RBIs and a triple, while Wenner had a double and an RBI.
Class B losses
St. Peter suffered losses to its RVL Class B rivals Chaska (5-2) and Prior Lake (10-4) on July 2 and 9, respectively. The Saints finished their scheduled RVL Class B games with a 0-3 record.
Photo: Jesse Anderson earned his first win of the season on Sunday against New Ulm. He allowed two runs on 10 hits in six innings of work.
