Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Jacob Berg throws a pitch during Sleepy Eye’s loss to North St. Paul during the Upper Midwest Classic on Friday in Essig. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

By Travis Rosenau

Journal Sports Writer

Sleepy Eye Legion Post 7 played well enough on Friday to split a pair of games in the Upper Midwest Classic.

Sleepy Eye started its day off with a 6-5 win against Stillwater at Searles.

Sam Tessmer picked up the win for Sleepy Eye in Game 1, pitching 3 1/3 innings, while allowing six walks and four hits for five runs. He also struck out three batters.

Nic Helget picked up a save for Sleepy Eye with 3 2/3 innings pitched, allowing two hits and two walks for no runs. He struck out two.

Zach Haala scored two runs and added a hit for Sleepy Eye in the first game, while Cole Owens went 1 for 1 with two walks and one run scored.

The second game of the day saw a pitchers’ duel end in a 1-0 North St. Paul victory against Sleepy Eye.

Jacob Berg received the complete-game loss for Sleepy Eye with five strikeouts, one walk and seven hits allowed for one run.

T.J. Wagner got the complete-game win for North St. Paul, striking out four while allowing four hits and no walks.

“My hats off to their pitcher [Wagner],” Sleepy Eye coach John Mielke said. “He just attacked the zone all night. He had us grounding out, popping out. He always got the first batter out every inning to kind of take some of our offense away from us. But I’m really proud of our kids. We had a rough start to the season, but the last four or five games, we really have been competing a lot better. I’m very proud of them and we’re working on it.”

After a scoreless first three innings of play, North St. Paul added the game’s lone run in the fourth. After an Erik Kubiatowicz double to center and a sac-bunt from Grant Goplen moved Kubiatowicz to third, Logan Myers drove in Kubiatowicz on a base hit to right.

Sleepy Eye later tried to get a rally going in the bottom of the seventh after a lead-off single by Matt Mielke, who was 2 for 3. A sac-bunt from Sean Salfer moved Mielke to second and Haala reached first on a dropped third strike.

Wagner was too dialed in to let it bother him, though, striking out the final two batters of the inning to shut the door on Sleepy Eye’s comeback hopes.

“Jacob here in the second game pitched a nice game for us,” John Mielke said. “The first game of the day we had Sam Tessmer and Nic Helget combine to beat a very good Stillwater team and keep them off balance.

“By in large, it was a good start for us. We like to say around here, ‘it’s not how we start the season, it’s how we finish’. We’re just striving to improve day by day.”

Sleepy Eye plays Eastview at noon Saturday in Essig.