sports

SACRED HEART NO-HITS BGMR TO ADVANCE TO SECTION 8A BASEBALL SEMI’S

June 3, 2021

The Sacred Heart Eagles had a great pitching performance from Parker Erickson as the eighth-grader threw a no-hitter, and he also went 2 for 3 at the plate to beat the Badger/Greenbush-Middle River Gators 10-0 in five innings to advance to the Section 8A semi-finals at Bemidji State on Saturday. “It was a good day to get the game done early,” said Sacred Heart coach Paul Bethke. “They came out and were aggressive, put the ball in play, and had some timely hits.”

Sacred Heart’s Parker Erickson set the tone in the game early after the lead-off batter reached on an error. He struck out the next three batters to get out of the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Cullen Rohrich doubled and stole third base. He later scored on a Gage Wavra sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. “Cullen is such a difference-maker for us and when he is on the bases he makes it look so easy,” said Coach Bethke. “He helps the batters behind him because the defense and pitcher are so focused on him.”

Neither team scored in the second inning. In the top of the third, BGMR had bases loaded with two outs after an error, hit batter, and a walk. Erickson struck out the next batter and got out of a big-time jam without giving up a run.
Sacred Heart blew the game open in the bottom of the inning as the first six batters of the inning reached. Erickson led off with a single. Rohrich singled, and Sam Gapp singled to score a run for a 2-0 lead. Gage Wavra was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Ethan Arnston singled up the middle to score two runs for a 4-0 lead. Isaac Zavarol singled to score a run, and Nick Brundin had a sacrifice that scored another run for a 6-0 lead. Sam Modeen followed with a single to score the sixth run of the inning for a 7-0 lead after three innings. “We shut down their rally and used the momentum to get our bats going,” said Coach Bethke. “Ethan has done a lot of base hits at big times and our guys were aggressive and scoring from second.”

Neither team scored in the fourth inning, and Sacred Heart only needed three runs in the fifth inning to win the game. Zavarol led off the inning by reaching on an error. Nick Brundin singled in a run, and Modeen grounded out to score another run for a 9-0 lead. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Erickson came up big again with a single and a stolen base to get to second base before Rohrich singled to score a run for a 10-0 victory in five innings. “That was huge to get out of the game early today with temps in the 90’s,” said Coach Bethke. “Parker helped himself out at the plate today.”

Parker Erickson ended the game with a no-hitter according to the KROX scorekeeper, but Sacred Heart official scoring differed in opinion on a play at first where they gave BGMR a hit and KROX called it an error on a play that could have gone either way. “It was an unbelievable performance. He has a couple no-hitters already this year and no matter how many hits there were, this was hit best performance of the year,” said Coach Bethke. “I forget he is only an eighth-grader the way he threw the pitches he wanted to throw and he did an awesome job and had some big strikeouts.”

Sacred Heart improves to 16-4 on the year and will play Fosston at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday at Bemidji State. You can hear the game on KROX Radio, with the pre-game starting at 3:30 p.m. The winner of the Sacred Heart vs. Fosston game will advance to the Section Championship on Thursday, June 10, at Bemidji State.
BGMR drops to 12-8 on the year.