Detroit Lakes Falls to Rocori, Sets Up a Must Win Game in Sartell on Thursday

Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM)-

The Section 8AAA baseball playoffs began on Tuesday evening, and the number 3 seeded Detroit Lakes Lakers fell to the number four seed Rocori Spartans at Washington Ballpark by a score of 9-4.

Detroit Lakes fell behind early as the Spartans struck for two runs in the top of the first inning. Senior infielder Connor Clark was able to drive in a run with a single, and Senior Brady Linn added another run courtesy of a sacrifice fly. Detroit Lakes starting pitcher Logan Lund struggled with his command in the first inning and walked two batters.

The Spartans added two more runs in the second inning, with the Laker defense committing one of their four errors in the game.

The biggest inning for the Spartans came in the fourth when they were able to get four runs home with Junior Brady Blattner driving in a run with an RBI double.

Blattner was the pitcher for the Spartans. He effectively pitched to contact and relied on his defense behind him to get out of trouble. The Spartans’ defense came to play as they only committed one error in the game, and Blattner only needed one strikeout to earn the win and go the distance on the mound.

Detroit Lakes was led offensively by Senior Trevor Schnathorst, who finished 3-3 with an RBI and a walk. Detroit Lakes was able to get some offense generated in the sixth inning as three Lakers came across to score thanks to a single by Junior Bradley Swiers. Detroit Lakes could not get the offense rolling in the seventh inning with the Lakers being sent down a groundout and two flyouts.

The loss snapped a 16 game winning streak that Detroit Lakes had accumulated during the regular season. That puts their season in jeopardy as they will have an elimination game upcoming on Thursday when they travel to Sartell to take on the top seed in the section.

Sartell narrowly snuck by the six seed Little Falls Flyers on Tuesday evening, beating the Flyers 8-7 on a walk-off hit in the final frame. Detroit Lakes and Sartell will play on Thursday at 4:30 pm. KDLM will have the game on the radio with the pregame coverage beginning at 4:15 pm.