Sartell Muskies use pitching, bats to win doubleheader on Saturday
SARTELL − The Sartell Muskies have had an up-and-down season with the hopes of hitting their stride in the final weeks of the regular season before league playoffs began next weekend.
The Muskies hosted the Sauk Rapids Cyclones on Saturday and had a dominating game that boosted the confidence of the players and solidified Sartell's seed for the Sauk Valley League playoffs.
Sartell won 10-0 in seven innings over the Cyclones, and the balance between strong pitching and timely hitting made the perfect outcome on the last day of the regular season for Sauk Valley teams. The Muskies also won 12-0 over Clear Lake in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday.
"It's great to see some great pitching and some runs on the board," said Sartell's Randy Beckstrom. "We've had some ups and downs this season with scoring runs and it's great to see the bats heading into the postseason."
The Muskies started off the season winning four of their first five games and were on a roll near the end of May. Then, Sartell continued to have some success going 4-2 over the next month into the middle of June.
After posting an 8-3 record, the Muskies lost three of their next four games. The bats weren't coming alive as Sartell lost games with finals of 3-1, 2-1 and 4-2. The team had a tough time with runners in scoring position as the Muskies would put players on base, but couldn't get them home.
"We weren't able to get runners in from scoring position in the middle of the season," said Sartell's Adam Wenker. "I think this win is a confidence boost for all of us, especially with playoffs right around the corner."
Sartell closed out the regular season with three straight wins including two on Saturday. The day started off with a 10-0 win over Sauk Rapids and then it concluded with a 12-0 win over Clear Lake to wrap up the regular season.
All aspects of the game are starting to click, which Beckstrom says is crucial to the success in the league playoffs and beyond in other postseason tournaments. The pitching can only carry a team so far, but the hitting has to come alive and vice versa.
The Muskies have outscored their last three opponents 25-1 to end the season and that's all the confidence this team needs to be in the right head space for next weekend's playoffs.
"This is a veteran team and they understand what it takes to reach the state tournament," Beckstrom said. "Every year we're always looking to compete at the state tournament, so this [10-0] win will definitely help the team."
The two starters for Sartell pitched gems in the doubleheader on Saturday. Wenker took the mound against Sauk Rapids and pitched six of the seven innings, allowing five hits, zero runs and six strikeouts.
"My fastball and slider were working well today," Wenker said. "It took some time in the first couple of innings, but then I started to get in a rhythm and it worked out the rest of the game."
In the second game, John Schumer continued the success on the mound with a no hitter against Clear Lake. The pitchers received plenty of run support on Saturday from a number of Sartell players.
The first game had a handful of players recording RBIs with Adam Schellinger recording an RBI sacrifice fly and Ethan Carlson hitting a two-RBI double in the second inning. Then, Andrew Deters had an RBI single in the fourth followed by an RBI single from Cody Partch in the fifth and a two-RBI triple from Carlson and an RBI single from Tim Burns in the sixth.
There was a steady flow of hits and runs throughout the entire game, and that's what the players were hoping to see on Saturday. In the second game, Burns had four doubles and five RBIs, while Carlson and Deters each had three hits.
"The entire lineup looked good today as everyone reached base and multiple players were able to score," Beckstrom said. "We just want that to carry into next week."
With the two wins on Saturday, the Muskies have locked up the No. 2 seed in the Sauk Valley West behind St. Joseph. The brackets will be released on Sunday for the league playoffs that start next week, but Sartell will play the No. 3 seed from the Sauk Valley East.
More:St. Joseph Joes look ahead to league playoffs after claiming No. 1 seed
Right now, the Muskies would be playing the Becker Bandits in the opening round. The top six teams from the Sauk Valley will head to the Region 11C tournament a couple weeks from now.
Sauk Rapids will also be looking to fight for one of those six spots as the Cyclones look to be either the No. 4 or 5 seed in the Sauk Valley West. This means the Cyclones will play either the No. 4 or 5 seed from the Sauk Valley East in play-in games on Wednesday night.
Right now, it looks like Sauk Rapids will play either Rogers or Albertville in the opening round with hopes of claiming one of those six spots to play in the region tournament.
Brian Mozey is the high school sports reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-255-8772 or bmozey@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianMozey.
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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Sartell Muskies use pitching, bats to win doubleheader on Saturday
