Windom Eagles best Worthington Trojans 9-6 in baseball season opener
Apr. 12—WORTHINGTON — The Windom Eagles took 11 walks in their 9-6 baseball victory over the Worthington Trojans on Tuesday night.
Tristan Sauerbrei started on the mound for the Trojans, going one and two-thirds innings, allowing three hits, four walks and five earned runs.
Tucker Brandner came on in relief, pitching two and one-third innings. He struck out six, allowed one hit and had zero walks.
The Eagles first scoring opportunity came in the second inning where they spotted five runs and sent nine batters to the plate. Drew Rothenberger hit a long foul ball that cleared left field in the inning.
The Eagles had four hits in the game. Henry Erickson had three , going 3-for-4 from the plate with a run scored and one run batted in.
The Trojans scored three runs in the third. Sauerbrei scored Ethan Meyer and Mathias Noble with a one out triple, and then scored off a Cooper McCoy fielder's choice. Sauerbrei batted third in the Trojans lineup, going 2-for-3 with a walk, a run and two RBIs.
McCoy came on in relief for the Trojans in the fifth inning, walking four batters and striking out two. Cade Grimmius pitched the final frame for WHS, walking three, while allowing one hit and one earned run.
The Trojans swung the bat well, and WHS head coach Skyler Wenninger said there were many positives to take from that.
"Our bats are pretty good. We battled for the most part up there — had six hits," said Wenninger. "Our defense only had one error. That's not bad, I will take that every day."
Junior Brandon Bosma excelled in his role as designated hitter. He went 2-for-4 from the plate with a triple. He batted in one run and scored a run of his own.
Command from the mound was the achilles heel for the Trojans.
"Pretty much we had (given) too many free bases — too many walks, too many hit batters," said Wenninger. "Not making them work for their bases. If we don't limit those, we will lose a lot of games."
The Eagles took advantage of several of their free bases by stealing second. The Eagles had 20 stolen bases and were only caught on the base path once. Erickson had five stolen bases and Josh Garrison took four bags.
Seven players scored for the Eagles. Chayton Struck and Adam Perrizo scored twice.
Struck was the starting pitcher for Windom Area. He went five innings, allowed four hits, three walks and three earned runs. He was replaced by Quintin Tietz, who pitched two-thirds of an inning. Tietz faced seven batters, walked four, allowed two earned runs and one hit.
Rothenberger pitched the final four outs. He faced six batters, allowed one hit, one walk, and one earned run. He also struck out three.
The Trojans will host Jackson County Central at noon on Saturday.
Windom Area 050 030 1 — 9 4 0
Worthington 003 002 1 — 6 6 1
