Good job Catcher Brandon Haglin congratulated pitcher Alex Jansson after the latter completed an 8-4 win over the C-I Rangers. Jansson pitched the whole game, allowing seven hits. The Staples Motley baseball team, with a fourth place ranking in state Class AA ratings, this past week won all five of their games, including two against Perham, two against Crosby- Ironton and one over the Browerville Tigers.

On Tuesday May 18, the Cards faced a tough Perham Yellowj acket ball club with some strong players.

The Staples Motley boys lived up to the challenge, sweeping the Jackets and coming home with two more MidState Conference wins.

In the first game, Gunner Johnson pitched, while the rest of the team played solid defense behind him, committing no errors. Alex Jansson slammed out a two run homer in the sixth inning to put the Cards ahead by five runs; he also had a single earlier in the game. Riewer and Johnson had two hits, while Smith and Shequen each pounded out singles.

Mighty swing Senior Jordan Riewer took a hefty swing at the pitch toward the end of the Cardinal win over Crosby -Ironton Thursday, May 20 . The boys were aggressive on the base paths that night, stealing six bases, led by Shequen’s three.

Coach Riewer said about the first game of the night, “It was a good win on the road against a quality team and program.”

The second game played out a little different. By the top of the sixth inning the Cardinals were down 7-1. However, things turned around in that inning when the Cardinal boys started pounding the ball. “We took advantage of Perham’s miscues in the field, but we also hit the ball extremely well late in the game,” Coach Riewer said. “Hitting is contagious and that is what happened. The ball was jumping all over the ball park, and you could feel the momentum go our way late in the game. This was a tremendous comeback by the Cardinals! Nine runs in the top of the sixth, incredible. I have played, coached and watched baseball for many years and have never seen anything like it.”

This week: 5-27: Breckenridge 6-3: Section 8AA Crosby-Ironton came to Staples two nights later, and the Cardinals again swept the double header, winning the first game 9-2 and the second 8-4. Sophomore Jeremy Hoemberg was on the mound for the first game, in his first varsity start of his career. “He has a great arm,” said Coach Riewer. “If he can learn to be consistent throwing strikes he has the potential to be an outstanding pitcher.”

On defense the Cards made just one error, and offensively they came out with seven hits, turning those into nine runs.

In Game two Alex Jansson pitched, helping SM to an 8-4 win. This game saw 11 hits for the Cardinals. Colton Hill had a great night, going 4 for 6 with a double as well. Smith and Beebe also had doubles, while Riewer went 4-6 as well.

“This was a great way to end the week, sweeping Perham on the road Tuesday, and bouncing back today and sweeping Crosby Ironton will make for a good weekend. There are still things we need to improve on, but we are really playing good fundamental baseball,” Riewer commented.

Monday night the boys hosted Browerville, and got yet one more win under their belt, improving their record to 16-1, and lengthening their winning streak to 10 games. The Cards pounded out 11 hits, with four Cardinals putting down doubles (Smith, Jansson, Riewer, Johnson), Johnson slammed a triple as well, leading the Cardinals to a 10-2 win over the Tigers.

Staples Motley is 10-0 in the MidState Conference. They hosted Park Rapids in a conference double header on Tuesday afternoon. They will play Breckenridge here on Thursday. The baseball team will start Sub-Section action on Thursday June 3.

Baseball results SM vs. Perham May 18

Game one

SM -1-1-1-0-1-2-0 - 6 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors

P 0-0-0-0-1-2-0 -3 runs, 7 hits, 2 errors

Winning Pitcher: Gunner Johnson 5 2/3IP, 27 BF, 10K, 4BB, 3 runs, 3 earned

Save: Jordan Riewer, 1 1/3IP, 4BF, 1K, 0BB, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned

Double-Riewer (3) RBI Single- Riewer (1), Johnson (3)

RBI Double- Johnson (5)

Stolen Bases – Jansson (1), Johnson (1), and Shequen (2) and (4), Duberowski (2)

Game Two:

SM 1-0-0-0-0-9-3 = 13 runs, 13 hits, 2 errors

P 4-0-1-0-2-2-0 = 9 hits, 8 hits, 6 errors

WP: Jordan Riewer -5IP, 26BF, 3K, 3BB, 6 hits, 7 runs, 5 earned

Save: Alex Jansson – 2IP, 12BF, 2K, 3BB, 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned

Doubles: Smith (1) Shequen (7)

2 RBI Double: Johnson (6)

RBI Singles: Riewer (1) Jansson (6), Johnson (6)

Stolen bases: Smith (6) Riewer (6) Johnson (4)

SM vs. C-I, May 20,

Game one

C-I 1-0-0-0-0-1-0 - 2 runs, 5 hits, 4 errors

SM 0-0-2-1-3-3-x - 9 runs, 7 hits, 1 error

WP: Jeremy Hoemberg – 7IP, 26BF, 7K, 5BB, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 1 HP, 2 Balks

LP: R. Olander

Stolen Bases: Jansson (3), Riewer (3), Hoemberg (4)

Sac: Smith (6)

RBI Single: Riewer (3) and (6), Hill (4)

RBI Single: Hill (5)

Game 2:

C-I: 1-1-0-0-2-0-0 4 runs, 7 hits, 1 error

SM: 1-0-2-2-3-0-x - 8 runs, 11 hits, 2 errors

May 24

Staples Motley 10 runs, 11 hits, 0 errors

Browerville, 2 runs, 7 hits, 3 errors