Spooner 7 Brill 12

            Spooner was able to come away with a split over the weekend with a loss to Brill and win over Cumberland. On Saturday, Brill was coming off a late night win over the Hayward Hawks and won by the score of 14-12. Trevor Brimblecom tossed a scoreless top of the first inning recording to strikeouts. Unfortunately, Brill’s bats would come alive throughout the game and scored four runs in the second and two in the fifth inning. Spooner was not helping themselves out defensively as they committed several errors and allowing extra bases on errant throws by missing cutoff men. The Cardinals did hit the ball relatively well and scored in the bottom of the first inning after Zach Rombach hit a double to the power alley in left-center to drive in Haiken Meier. That would be all the scoring until the fifth inning when Brill held a 6-1 lead with the Cardinals only threatening to score in the third. Spooner led off the fifth inning at the top of the order with three consecutive hits, including an RBI double from Meier. The next two batters reached on base on balls to score another run. Trayden Wilson singled to score a pair of runs and suddenly the Cardinals only trailed 6-5. Brill added a run in the sixth inning and seventh innings to take an 8-5 lead heading into the last part of the game. Spooner threatened with rallies in the seventh and eighth innings and scored single runs during each frame. Unfortunately, the Cardinals were missing another clutch hit with men on base as they left tying or go-ahead runs on base in each inning. Trevor Brimblecom was battling through the Brill lineup but the ninth inning proved to be too much as six of the first seven batters reached base. The back breaker was a bases loaded three-run double by Brill to extend the lead 11-7. Brill scored their final run and then shutdown the Cardinals in the ninth to secure a win.

            Zach Rombach (four hits, two doubles) and Haiken Meier (two hits) led the offense which banged out 11 hits. Trevor Brimblecom battled through 8 1/3 innings in the loss to the hot hitting Millers. Spooner certainly had their chances but gave up too many free bases with miscues defensively throughout the game.

Spooner 8  Cumberland 6

             Spooner wanted to turn the page and keep their record on the positive side of .500 for the season when Cumberland came to town. The Islanders were fresh off a shutout of the Haugen Knights on Saturday evening and looking to beat the Cardinals. Spooner had beaten Cumberland earlier in June by a score of 10-9. The early innings were eerily similar for the Cardinals as they allowed to unearned runs with poor defensive play over the first two innings. Sam Holden started the scoring for Spooner with an RBI double to deep left-center in the bottom of the first inning for a 2-1 lead. Spooner re-took the lead and extended the lead with one run in the third, two in the fourth and two in the fifth innings. The lead was 7-3 after five complete. Evan Potaczek pitched a complete game for Spooner and tossed the ball solid throughout the game. The Islanders tagged Potaczek for two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to cut the lead to 7-6. Fortunately, Spooner extended the lead with a run in the seventh and now had an 8-6 lead. Potaczek and the Spooner defense played a solid final two innings and secured the win, including retiring the top of the Islanders order 1-2-3 to end the game in the ninth inning. Rombach had another monster game by going 3-for-3 with two doubles and an opposite field home run to right center. Carsen Stenberg and Nick Webster each added a pair of hits for the game and the team tallied 10 total.

            It was a remarkable weekend for Zach Rombach at the plate as he went a combined 7-for-8 with four double and one home run. Unofficially, it was likely one of the best offensive showings in Cardinal history. Zach also pitched the final two outs of the Brill game and induced a 1-2-3 double play in his only batter faced.

            Spooner will travel north to Hayward for the annual 4^th of July showdown between the teams and the first matchup for the season. First pitch is slated to be 7:00 with fireworks following the game. Brill defeated Hayward on Friday night 14-12 and Cumberland shut out Haugen (no score reported).

Brill 4-2

Spooner 4-3

Hayward 2-2

Cumberland 2-3

Haugen 2-4