Milaca trims Pierz behind Barrett
Posted 5/29/03

Milaca, behind the two-hit pitching of senior right-hander Joe Barrett, trimmed Pierz 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Sub-Section 18 Baseball Tournament Thursday, May 22 at Pierz.

Milaca was seeded No. 6 in the sub-section while Pierz, which had topped the Wolves 8-4 in the 2003 regular-season opener, was seeded No. 3.

³Barrett pitched his best game of the season,² said Milaca Coach Craig Talberg. ³He really kept the Pierz hitters off balance. Joe has had a good season.²

Barrett, who stymied North Branch on five hits in his last regular-season outing Nay 13, held Pierz hitless through five innings. The Pioneers touched him for an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning and an earned run in the sixth inning.

Barrett struck out seven and walked just two.

Milaca tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the second inning, then went ahead with another run in the third. The Wolves scored two more runs in the fifth before giving Barrett a cushion with two runs in the

seventh.

Junior Josh Walz rapped three singles while Barrett, senior Nate Roehl and senior Kurt Koskela each had two singles to lead a 10-hit Milaca attack. Junior Tony Thompson added a double.

Roehl and Koskela each drove in a pair of runs.

³We had several key hits with runners on base,² said Talberg. ³We kept the ball in play and forced Pierz to make plays.²

Joe Kahl pitched the distance for the Pioneers, who finished with a 10-11 record.

In other quarter-final games May 22, No. 2-seeded St. Cloud Cathedral stopped seventh-seeded Foley 12-2 in five innings and fifth-seeded Becker topped fourth-seeded Holdingford 9-5 in nine innings. No. 1-seeded Big Lake received a bye.

The semifinals were scheduled Tuesday at St. Cloud, with Milaca facing Cathedral and Becker meeting Big Lake.

The championship game is tonight (Thursday) at 7:30 at Faber Field in St. Cloud.

The top two teams in the Sub-Section 18 meet will join the top two teams from the Sub-Section 19 Tournament in the Section 6AA Tournament June 2, 3, and 5 at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud.

³The team was really ready to play against Pierz,² said Talberg. ³We¹re playing our best ball at the right time of the season.²

Milaca took a 7-10 record into its game with Cathedral.