Sartell Baseball Season Ends With Fourth Place Finish

The Sartell baseball team dropped a pair of games in the Class AAA state tournament in Jordan Wednesday afternoon. The Sabres fell 7-0 to the Mahtomedi Zephyrs in a semifinal matchup then dropped a wild third place game 16-15 shortly after.

Sartell committed four errors and stranded nine runners in the semifinal loss to Mahtomedi. Tyler Phelps-Hemmesch got the start just a day after pitching 2.2 innings of relief in Sartell's quarterfinal win over Albert Lea and allowed five runs (only three earned).

Steven Brinkerhoff, who hit the walk-off home run for Sartell in the quarterfinal, led Sartell's offense with a pair of hits. The Sabres had five hits as a team but did draw walks and threaten in most innings.

Earlier in the afternoon Grand Rapids beat St. Thomas Academy 4-3 to punch its ticket to the state tournament and set up the third place game between Sartell and STA.

St. Thomas Academy jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning but then saw Sartell answer with a five-run first frame. Charlie Kent led off the inning with a home run and the Sabres pounded out five hits while also drawing two walks.

The game seesawed back and forth with the Sabres taking a 15-14 lead after a five-run bottom of the sixth, but STA scored two runs in the top of the seventh to pull away for the win.

Kent, Jacob Merrill and Tyler Gentile each had two hits in the third place game, while five different Sabre pitchers were used by coach Jerome Nemanich.

The Sabres finish the season with a 22-5 record.