The St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders will challenge the Brainerd Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as St. Cloud Cathedral comes in on eight and Brainerd on three.
On Tuesday, St. Cloud Cathedral made easy work of Milaca and carried off an 11-1 win. The Crusaders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 11 matchups by eight runs or more this season.
Jack Hamak
| 05/12/26 vs Milaca | 6 |
| 05/05/26 @ Foley | 5 |
| 04/28/26 vs Pierz | 6 |
Jack Hamak looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out six over four innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted over his last three contests.
At the plate, St. Cloud Cathedral got a massive performance out of Ryan Liebrenz, who went 2-for-3 with three stolen bases, two RBI, and one run. That's the most stolen bases Liebrenz has posted over his last six games. Nick Plante was another key player, getting on base in two of his three plate appearances with three stolen bases and two runs.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Brainerd). They blew past Detroit Lakes 14-4 on Tuesday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
Griffin Bartholomaus was a standout: he went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI. Those RBI marked the first that he has brought in this season. Another player making a difference was Brady Vanek, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.
Brainerd always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .600. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
St. Cloud Cathedral's win bumped their record up to 22-5. As for Brainerd, their victory bumped their record up to 4-5.
St. Cloud Cathedral skirted past Brainerd 3-2 in their previous meeting two weeks ago. Do the Crusaders have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Warriors turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
