Opening day loss for Cardinal baseball team

• Colin Erickson

Echo Press photo by Eric Morken Colin Erickson was solid on the mound for Alexandria, throwing four shutout innings and striking out nine.
• Ross Thompson

Ross Thompson (7) dove into third base with a triple during Alexandria’s home opener at Carlos Tuesday night. The Cardinal baseball team lost a tough 5-4 eight-inning contest.

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The Alexandria baseball team looked to be on its way to a clean 4-0 win over Rocori in the season opener before a crazy seventh inning resulted in an eventual 5-4 loss in eight innings.

Rocori scratched across three runs in the top of the seventh, with the third run coming on an RBI double by Derek Lieser. With two outs and two strikes on the hitter, the Spartans looked like they would come up just short. The Rocori batter made contact, though, and squibbed the ball right in front of the plate.

Lucas Betterman fielded the ball for Alexandria and threw to Colin Erickson at first base. Erickson was staring into the sun and could not find the ball as it went past him and rolled down the right field line. The Spartan baserunner came all the way around to score the tying run on the play.

In the eighth inning, Adam Backes delivered the final blow after getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run.

The loss spoiled a solid start by Erickson on the mound. He threw four shutout innings, striking out nine and allowing just one hit. Ross Thompson delivered the big blow on offense with a two-run triple in the second to give the Cardinals the lead.

Dalton Leuschke started his first game at shortstop and delivered an RBI single for his first hit in the fourth inning. Shawn Krueger then walked with the bases loaded to give his team the 4-0 lead. Walker Giroux also had two hits for Alexandria.

“The Cardinals did everything right on this night but win the game,” head coach Russ Hinrichs said.

GAME SUMMARY

ROCORI 000 000 41 – 5 8 2

ALEXANDRIA 020 200 00 – 4 6 1

ALEXANDRIA HITTING – Ross Thompson – 2-3, 3B, 2 RBI; Dalton Leuschke – 1B, RBI; Shawn Krueger – BB, RBI; Walker Giroux – 2 hits, 1 run; Colin Erickson – 1 hit; Mark Whiting – 1 hit

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Colin Erickson – 4IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 9SO; Shawn Krueger – (L) 4IP, 5H, 5R, 4ER, 2BB, 1SO

Tags: baseball, alexandria, cardinals, rocori