Card baseball: Alexandria falls to Brainerd, tops Marshall

• Murphy

Erich Murphy called for time during an at-bat for the Cardinals in earlier baseball action for Alexandria. The Cardinals fell to Brainerd on Thursday, but came back with a win over Marshall on Saturday. (Echo Press photo by Eric Morken)

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A pair of suicide squeeze bunt attempts resulted in runs for Brainerd as the Warriors took down Alexandria 10-3 Thursday afternoon.

The first attempt came in the five-run second inning as Dustin Borlaug set down the successful attempt to bring in Dalton Tibbets.

Four of their five runs were unearned on three errors.

The second attempt came in the third inning, and, although it wasn’t successful, did lead to a run as an error by Alexandria allowed Tibbets, who was caught in a rundown, to score.

“The Cards continue to struggle in the field defensively,” said head coach Russ Hinrichs. “[They] had some opportunities to take an early lead in the top of the first, but left runners stranded on first and third.”

The Cardinals picked up their runs in the third, sixth and seventh as Jordan Domine rapped a two-out hit to drive in the only RBI of the night for Alexandria.

Alexandria had a pair of hits from Ben Allen and A.J. Anderson, with Domine contributing one.

“The Cards were able to get many players into the game as we continue to search for the right lineup both in the field and at the plate,” said Hinrichs. “Christian Anderson saw his first action in the field, getting the start in left field.

“The team will continue to battle through our early season struggles as we hope to sharpen our play in the field and are determined that our bats will come alive and provide our pitching staff with some much-needed run support.”

GAME SUMMARY

ALEXANDRIA 001 001 1 3-5-7

BRAINERD 051 021 X 10-13-1

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) – Blake Peterson (WP); Logan Serum (LP) 3-7-6-1-0-4; Nick Knoblach 3-6-3-2-0-5.

ALEXANDRIA – Ben Allen 2, AJ Anderson 2, Jordan Domine 1.

ALEXANDRIA 9, MARSHALL 2

The Alexandria baseball team was scheduled for a doubleheader on Saturday but had to settle for a 9-2 win in game one before the rains became too much at Knute Nelson Field.

The Cardinals and Tigers got in just one inning in game two before the game was called, but they left the field with a good taste in their mouths after a strong performance in the opener.

Alexandria used a four-run first inning to take command of the game early. Logan Serum delivered the big hit of the inning as he connected on a two-out, two-RBI single to cap off the scoring. The Cardinals added five in the fourth to run away with things and snap a three-game losing streak.

AJ Anderson threw what head coach Russ Hinrichs called his best game of the season to pick up the win. He went the distance, allowing just two hits and striking out six.

“AJ got better as the game went on as he forced the Tiger hitters to put the ball in play and let the Alexandria defense do the rest,” Hinrichs said.

The Cardinals committed three errors but made the plays behind their starting pitcher that helped them avoid giving up a big inning.

“Saturday was without a doubt the Cardinals’ best day defensively as we made the routine plays in the field,” Hinrichs said. “We had nice defensive plays turned in by Beau Backhaus at second, Jordan Smith at shortstop, Nick Knoblach at third and Grant Becker at first. As a team we believe we can play with most any team we face if we play defense behind our pitcher and score some early runs in the ballgame.”

Serum and Jordan Domine led the offense with two hits apiece. Jeff Swedberg, Smith, Gideon Burnham, Backhaus, Becker and Knoblach all added a hit apiece, while Christian Anderson, Swedberg and Burnham all scored two runs apiece.

The Cardinals were scheduled to be at home last night, Tuesday, against Sartell before welcoming in Sauk Rapids-Rice on Thursday. Both games were scheduled to start around 7 p.m. after the junior varsity games were completed. Alexandria will wrap up the week at Rocori on Friday.

GAME SUMMARY

MARSHALL 000 200 0 – 2 2 2

ALEXANDRIA 400 500 X – 9 10 3

ALEXANDRIA PITCHING – Anderson – W, 7IP, 2H, 2R, 6SO

ALEXANDRIA HITTING – Serum – 2; Domine – 2; Swedberg – 1; Smith – 1; Burnham – 1; Backhaus – 1; Becker – 1; Knoblach – 1

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, cardinals, baseball