Saints Power Past Braves 10-3 To Make State For 4th Straight Year

By Pat Beck, St. Peter Herald

With a two-run homer by third-baseman Shea Roehrkasse and a three-run shot by second-baseman Jordan Wilmes, St. Peter amateur baseball team punched its ticket to state for the fourth straight year by defeating Le Sueur 10-3 in the Region 6C semifinals Sunday at Veterans Field.

The Saints jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Andy Regner was hit by pitch, stole second and scored on the two-out homer by Roehrkasse over the left-center field fence.

St. Peter upped its lead to 3-0 in the third on an infield hit by Jayme Munsterman to the shortstop hole and an RBI double to center by Javon Rodriguez.

The Saints scored four runs in the fourth to take a 7-0 lead. Ryan Kapser walked, Billy Hanson singled, and Jeff Menk hit an opposite-field RBI single to left to score Kapser. Alex Hoehn sacrifice bunted the runners to second and third, and Wilmes hit a three-run homer down the left-field line.

It was Wilmes' second home run of his five-year career. He hit his first in his first year.

"The first pitch was a pretty bad pitch that I swung at, then he left one up in the zone, I kind of went with it and tucked it right by the left-field foul pole," Wilmes said. That one felt pretty good."

It's 333-feet down the line, and Wilmes estimated it went 340-345.

The Braves finally scored two runs in the sixth inning. Cole Pengilly walked, Ryan McPartland singled, and Andrew Traeger singled in Pengilly. Alex Klug walked to load the bases, and Brent O'Connell drove in McPartland on a force out at second to make it 7-2.

The Saints scored four in the seventh to go up 10-2. Munsterman walked, Rodriguez singled, Roehrkasse walked, and Kapser drove in Munsterman with a ground out. Hanson hit a sacrifice fly to score Rodriguez, and Menk reached on a error that scored Roehrkasse.

Le Sueur finished off the scoring with a run in the eighth. Pengilly led off with a singled, Traeger reached on an infield hit, and Pengilly scored on a single by Klug.

The Saints collected 11 hits. Munsterman went 2 for 4 with a double and two runs. Rodriguez batted 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run. Hanson hit 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run. Roehrkasse finished 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run. Kapser batted 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run. Menk went 1 for 2 with and RBI and a run. Wilmes finished 1 for 3 with three RBIs and a run. Hoehn batted 1 for 3.

Wilmes said the Saints "played the same way they've played all year long. Most of the games we've had 10 or more hits."

The Braves had 10 hits. Traeger went 3 for 4 with an RBI, and Klug batted 2 for 4 with an RBI. Five others had a hit each: Ryan Moriarty 1 for 5. Pengilly 1 for 4 with two runs, Ryan McPartland 1 for 4 with one run. Matt McPartland 1 for 3 with a double, and Zach Thomson 1 for 1.

Veteran righthander Jesse Anderson (4-3) went the distance on the mound to earn the win. He allowed 10 hits, one walk and three earned runs while striking out three.

"Jesse was lights out," Wilmes said. "He's always been reliable for us. He throws a lot of strikes and puts the ball in play for the defense to make easy plays. It's pretty easy to play defense behind him. You know you're always going to get a quality start behind him. Once he gets that first-pitch fastball over the plate, then it makes the game go a lot quicker. You get batters down on the count, and it's easier to control it from the mound, rather than the batter."

The St. Peter defense also played strong, capped off by right fielder Alex Hoehn tracking down a long fly ball at the fence.

Le Sueur lefthanded starter Alex Borchardt lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits, one walk and one strikeout.

Mike Fenney pitched the next 2 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on three hits.

Alex Klug failed to get on out in allowing three runs (two earned) on one hit and two walks.

Cole Pengilly and Brent O'Connell pitched the seventh and eighth innings without allowing a run or a hit.

No. 2 seeded St. Peter (18-11-1) advances to the region championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday versus No. 1 seeded Jordan (25-9) at the Mini Met. Jordan shut out No. 5 Belle Plaine 9-0 in the other championship semifinal game. St. Peter and Jordan split during the regular season.

The Jordan versus St. Peter game will determine the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the region that qualify for state. The No. 1 seed will have a first-round bye and a first-round draft of pitchers.

St. Peter has been winless at state the last three years, so Wilmes is hoping for a win.

No. 6 Le Sueur (6-15) drops into the loser's bracket against No. 5 Belle Plaine (13-15) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9 at Tiger Park.

In elimination games, No. 3 seeded Henderson (7-12) beat No. 7 Fairfax (11-13) 5-4 in 10 innings and No. 8 Arlington (8-17) beat No. 4 Gaylord (10-14).

In elimination games at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Aug. 9, Belle Plaine plays Henderson in Jordan and Le Sueur hosts Arlington.