Town Team wins third straight RVL game, completes two sweeps
Posted July 15, 2019
The St. Peter town team won its third straight River Valley League game, completing two series sweeps in the process. The Saints held on for an 8-7 win over Gaylord on Sunday at Veterans Field after beating Henderson 12-9 on Saturday in Henderson. Both wins secured the sweep in the regular season series as the local nine beat Gaylord 3-1 on May 12 and Henderson 8-2 on Thursday.
St. Peter 12, Henderson 9
The Saints tallied six runs in the first inning and put the cruise control on for the next six innings before having to fend off a late comeback effort by the Tigers.
The six runs in the first came after six singles, two walks, and an error. St. Peter went up 7-0 in the third before Henderson ended the shutout in the fifth with a pair of runs on four hits.
The visitors led 8-2 in the sixth after Jovan Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season into the right field trees.
After throwing eight innings on Thursday against Henderson, Jesse Anderson started on the mound and tossed the first five frames on Saturday. Rodriguez came in relief in for the sixth and seventh, allowing three runs, making the score 8-5.
St. Peter then added four insurance runs in the eighth on three hits, two walks, a sac bunt, and a hit-by-pitch. The Tigers made things interesting in the bottom half with four runs off reliever Sam Wenner, but Anderson re-entered the game to get the final out of the inning and then earned both the win and the save with three outs in the ninth.
Anderson pitched six and two-thirds innings for the win and save. He allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out two. Wenner (3-5, 2 R, BB, 2 RBI), Tyson Sowder (3-5, R, RBI, SAC), and Walker Froehling (3-4, 2 R, BB, 2B) led at the plate as the team collected 17 hits.
St. Peter 8, Gaylord 7
After giving up a run in the first, the Saints answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half and never trailed the rest of the way.
Andy Regner singled, stole second, and scored on a single by Austin Pinke. Pinke then went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on an error, and scored on a single by Jeff Menk. The Saints took a 4-1 advantage in the second as Sowder and Hunter Wilmes hit consecutive singles, followed by RBI singles off the bats of Wenner and Rodriguez.
The Islanders made it a one-run game in the third on a two-out, two-run single, but the local nine got two runs back in the fifth. Rodriguez walked, Pinke singled, and both scored on a single up the middle by Menk.
Gaylord tied the score in the sixth with three runs, ending Sam Carlson’s day on the mound. Kevin Sandborg came in relief and got out of the jam with a double play and a fly out.
The Saints immediately reclaimed the lead in the bottom half with a pair of runs. Sowder led off with a single, Wenner walked, and both advanced after stolen bases and a passed ball, setting up a two-run single by Regner.
Gaylord scored one in the eighth, but Sandborg pitched a three-up-three-down ninth inning to pick up the win. Sandborg threw four innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits.
Five different Saints had two hits apiece as the team collected 12 hits.
St. Peter (10-7 overall, 5-4 RVL) hosts league-leading Jordan at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, host Arlington at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and then travel to Fairfax for a Sunday doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.
