Springfield sprints past St. Mary’s for big win

Staff photo by
Travis Rosenau
Springfield’s Jakob Nachreiner slides in to home, beating the tag by Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Tyler Mathiowetz (2) during a Tomahawk Conference baseball game Monday at Sleepy Eye Baseball Park.

SLEEPY EYE — The unpredictability of the Tomahawk Conference showed again Monday at Sleepy Eye Baseball Park.

In a meeting between the conference’s top two teams at this point in the season, Springfield ran past Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s for a 16-2 win in six innings.

The game ended in six innings due to the 10-run lead rule.

Despite being outhit 9-6 in the game, the Tigers’ defense committed just one error in the game that didn’t end up hurting them.

“Both teams, I don’t know how many infield hits there were, but there were quite a few,” Springfield head coach Brandon Wilhelmi said. “I know [there were] errors, but a lot of those I think on there part were infield hits. Defensively, we know if we play defense, play clean defense, we’re going to be OK. Obviously pitching-wise, we’ve been throwing it pretty well, but we just cant hurt ourselves. Then, timely hits. We put the ball in play, two great two-strike approaches in a row with [Brayden] Sturm and then [Russell] Beers, and that’s what you need.”

After already taking a strong 6-0 lead after four innings, the Tigers scored 10 more to take a 16-1 lead. The inning started after Brecken Heiling was hit by pitch and Sturm reached on an infield error.

Another error at third base allowed Beers to reach before Jakob Nachreiner singled in a pair of runs for an 8-1 lead.

After batting around, Jakob Nachreiner came through again with a three-run double to highlight the inning and cap off the scoring for Springfield. That inning saw four errors on St. Mary’s, one on throw to first to try to end the inning with a double play.

The Knights had five errors and allowed 10 walks and three hit batsmen between three pitchers, with Talan Helget taking the loss in three innings. He allowed four hits and five walks while hitting a batter for six runs, five earned.

“We also walked too many guys,” Knights head coach Bruce Woitas said. “I think we gave them 16 free bases between walks, hit batters and throwing some errors, or we didn’t get some balls that should’ve been caught. So you do that to a good team, you’re going to get spanked like we got spanked. Simple as that. We’d love the opportunity to get them again and see what happens.”

Tyler Mathiowetz pitched 2 1/3 innings for the Knights after entering in the fourth to relieve Helget. He allowed one hit and four walks while hitting a batter for seven runs, five earned.

Kessler Severson pitched 2/3 innings in relief and allowed one hit, one walk and one hit batsmen for three unearned runs.

Kade Nachreiner got the complete-game win for the Tigers. Despite giving up nine hits and at least one hit each inning, Kade Nachreiner didn’t allow any walks and hit just one batter while striking out two.

“He attacked the zone with two, three pitches,” Wilhelmi said of his pitcher. “Seemed like whenever he needed a pitch, he made one. Defense helped him out, though, and that’s the big deal. But our pitching staff has been doing a really good job of attacking the zone this year. We haven’t walked many guys, pitching out jams, I’m proud of them. And credit to our pitching coach Jason Nachreiner for getting after those kids.”

Jakob Nachreiner was 2 for 2 with six RBIs, a walk and a run scored to lead Springfield at the plate, while Aiden Moriarty was 1 for 2 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Brayden Sturm took three walks, had an RBI and scored three runs also for the Tigers.

The Knights were led at the plate by Helget and Taylor Mathiowetz, who each went 2 for 3, while Brandon Schmitz was 2 for 4 with a run scored.

After Moriarty doubled to deep right field to start the inning, a groundout by Lucas Milbrath moved him to third and a groundout by Noah Neperman scored him for a 1-0 lead. The Tigers scored five more in the fourth, led by a pair of bases-loaded walks by Heiling and Sturm and a sac fly off the bat of Jakob Nachreiner. A wild pitch scored Heiling and a grounder by Jackson Ludewig scored the fifth run of the inning for Springfield.

After a leadoff single by Schmitz and another single by Helget, Springfield got a groundout for the first out of the bottom of the fifth. A 5-3 groundout by Merrick Mathiowetz scored Schmitz for the Knights’ first run.

Then came the Tigers’ big sixth that put them up 16-1. Jonny Petermann’s sac fly scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth before a grounder and strong throw from third baseman Moriarty to Neperman at first ended the game.

“They’re a good ball team,” Wilhelmi said of St. Mary’s. “Baseball’s a goofy sport. We had some go through, they made a few mistakes, we capitalized on those things and that’s baseball. Obviously a lot closer game than maybe what the score said, but we’re feeling good that we won that one.”

The Knights, who lost 10-0 at Springfield on April 11 before winning nine in a row ahead of Monday, dropped to 10-3 overall and 9-3 in the conference. They host Section 2A opponent Martin County West on Tuesday.

Springfield, now 13-2 overall and 9-2 in the conference, hosts New Ulm Cathedral (10-3, 9-3) in a key section and conference matchup on Thursday.