“Fun win tonight,” said Fergus Falls Head Coach Kevin Pearson.  “Brainerd did give us some extra outs in the first inning and we definitely took advantage.  We also had four straight two-out hits to score runs after they made their errors.  Those are the big hits we have been missing in earlier games.”

Brainerd took the early lead when Andrew Zuk led off the game with a base hit, stole second base, went to third on a ground out and then scored on another ground out.  The Otters 8-run bottom of the first featured 3 walks, 4 errors, 3 singles and a sacrifice fly.  Abel Aho, Owen Krueger, Wyatt Goetz, Kaden Conklin and Ian Stumbo all drove in one run in the inning.  Cole Zierden scored twice, reaching on a walk and a single.  Stumbo, Arik Heacox, Aho, Krueger, Conklin and Ethan Gronwold scored the other runs.

Brainerd added single runs in the second and third innings, tacked on two in the fourth and finished their scoring with two runs in the fifth.  Will Carlson drove in two runs with a bloop single and pitcher Jack Schafer doubled, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, drew a walk and was hit by a pitch.  Brainerd had only 3 hits in the game.

The Otters scored their other two runs in the third inning.  With two outs, Zierden and Stumbo delivered back-to-back singles and Carter Thielke came through with a 2-run triple, his fourth three-bagger of the season.

Stumbo (4IP, 3H, 5R, 3ER, 5BB, 3K) was the winning pitcher.  Aho (3IP, 0H, 4BB, 2K, 2R, 0ER) finished up on the mound.  Zierden (2-2, BB, HBP, 3R) and Stumbo (2-3, RBI, 2R) led the Otters at the plate.

“Both Ian and Abel did a great job battling out of trouble, but we have to make sure we are making their batters earn their way on base,” added Coach Pearson.

Fergus Falls (4-11) will play a 7:00pm game in Alexandria on Thursday night.