The Sacred Heart Eagles and Fertile-Beltrami Falcons went back-and-forth with the lead, but ultimately the Eagles got a big fifth inning to break open the game on their way to a 13-6 victory on a beautiful day for baseball in Fertile.
The Eagles got the scoring started in the first inning with a run. A pitch hit Isaac Zavoral, and then he stole second and got to third when the ball reached the outfield. Gage Wavra grounded out, but Zavoral came in to score to take a quick lead. “Any time you make the other team have to make a play, it gets a little bit harder,” said Sacred Heart Eagles Head Coach Paul Bethke. “We show that when we are in the field too, but that’s what we like to do on the bases.”
The Falcons answered quickly in the bottom half of the inning. Brandon Van Den Einde led off with a double. He then stole third base and scored when that throw reached the outfield. After one inning, the game was tied 1-1.
Sacred Heart took back the lead in the third with some two-out offense. With two outs, Cullen Rohrich reached on an error to get to second. He stole third and was singled home by Zavoral. “Cullen pretty much has the green light from us at any time to steal,” said Coach Bethke. “He’s really good at reading pitchers and catchers and knowing when the right time to go is.” The Eagles loaded the bases in the inning, but Tysen Stuhaug got a strikeout to end the inning. “Our pitchers, I thought, did a pretty good job today. I thought they pitched well enough to win the game,” said Fertile-Beltrami Head Coach Tony Grieve.
The Falcons took their first lead of the game with three runs in the bottom of the third. Easton Petry singled to start the inning, followed by a Kayden Olson walk and a Van Den Einde single to load the bases. Petry scored on a wild pitch, and the other two runners scored on an error off the bat of Josh Benson. “I was more impressed with our at-bats today,” said Coach Grieve. “There were some defensive swings in hitters counts, but it’s a work in progress, and there certainly was an improvement even from yesterday’s game.”
The Eagles added on two more runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game. Ethan Arntson led off with a double. With two outs and runners at the corners, Arntson scored on a wild pitch, and Cullen Rohrich singled home Parker Erickson.
After Fertile-Beltrami did not score in the fourth, Sacred Heart got six runs in the fifth. The first two batters of the inning, Gage Wavra and Sam Gapp, reached on a hit by a pitch and a single. Nick Brundin put down a sacrifice bunt, but a poor throw allowed him to reach base and get all the way to third on the play. Meanwhile, both runners came around to score. “I couldn’t be happier the way they’ve taken to the baserunning approach. What a difference it can make in a game,” said Coach Bethke. After a walk, Caden Reimer put down a bunt to score Brundin, and he beat the throw to first. The throw was bobbled, allowing Arntson to get to third. Sam Modeen hit a sacrifice fly to score Artnson. Reimer eventually scored on a wild pitch to cap the scoring and give the Eagles a 10-4 lead. “Our defense was not good today. We didn’t make the plays that we’ve been making lately,” explained Coach Grieve. “We got 21 outs in the game, and we needed around 30 to get there.”
The Falcons did get one back in the bottom of the fifth. Kayden Olson walked with one out. Then with two outs, Josh Benson singled to move him to third, and Matthew Sykes singled to score Olson and make it 10-5 through five innings. “We just have to go up there thinking about driving the ball into a gap,” added Coach Grieve.
The Eagles were not done scoring as they tacked on two more runs. Wavra reached on an error to start the inning. Sam Gapp was next, and he struck out, but the ball skipped away from the catcher, and Gapp beat the throw to first. The ball went off the first baseman’s glove, allowing Wavra’s courtesy runner Mike Gapp to score from second base. Sam Gapp scored one batter later on Nick Brundin’s single to give the Eagles a 12-6 lead. “Give Sacred Heart credit because they capitalized on our mistakes,” said Coach Grieve.
Sacred Heart added on one more insurance run in the seventh inning when Rohrich doubled to lead off, stole third, and Wavra brought him in with a sacrifice fly. “We scored in six of the seven innings… can’t really ask for much more than that,” added Coach Bethke.
In the bottom of the seventh, Arntson finished off his second inning of relief of Isaac Zavoral on the mound with a 1-2-3 inning to end the game and close out the Eagles 13-6 victory. “Isaac doesn’t have a lot of innings in yet, but he threw a good mix of pitches today and kept them off balance a bit,” explained Coach Bethke. “Ethan is steady. He comes in and throws the ball over the plate and letting the defense make plays.”
Sacred Heart improves to 9-1 this season. After four games this past week, the Eagles will have a busy week again next week with five games on the schedule.
Fertile-Beltrami falls to 2-8 this season. They will travel to Kittson County Central for a game on Monday.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Sacred Heart | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 9 | 2 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| Isaac Zavoral- Sacred Heart | 5.0 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
| Ethan Arntson- Sacred Heart | 2.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Tysen Stuhaug- Fertile-Beltrami | 4.0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Austin Bjerk- Fertile-Beltrami | 0.2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Everett Balstad- Fertile-Beltrami | 2.1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
For Sacred Heart
Cullen Rohrich- 3 for 5, RBI, 3 runs, double, 4 stolen bases
Sam Gapp- 2 for 5, 2 runs
Nick Brundin, Caden Reimer, Isaac Zavoral- 1 hit, RBI, run each
Gage Wavra- 2 RBI, 2 runs
For Fertile-Beltrami
Brandon Van Den Einde- 2 for 4, 2 runs, double
Matthew Sykes- 2 for 4, RBI
Easton Petry- 2 for 3, RBI, run
Josh Benson, Austin Bjerk- 1 hit each
