Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Jon Petermann runs to third as Sleepy Eye’s Nick Mielke fields the ball during the first game of a Tomahawk Conference baseball doubleheader on Thursday in Sleepy Eye.

SLEEPY EYE — If there’s one thing area baseball fans found out on Thursday is that the Tomahawk Conference is unpredictable.

After Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s handed cross-town rival Sleepy Eye its first shutout loss of the season with a 10-0 rout in five innings, the Indians responded in the nightcap for a 9-2 win, evening up the conference baseball doubleheader with a win apiece.

The Indians (9-2, 8-2) are no stranger to shutouts this season, but they’ve been the ones shutting teams out. They have four shutout wins this year, but the Knights (7-3, 5-3) were quick to remind everyone that the city of Sleepy Eye has more than one contender this season.

In a dominant Game 1 performance, the Knights jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in a second inning that saw them bat around for six hits. During the inning, Brandon Schmitz, Brandon Tauer, Kameron Kosak and Talan Helget each had RBI singles to lead the way.

Owen Weiss led off the third with a double to right-center and later scored on an RBI single by Schmitz for a 6-0 Knights lead.

The Knights put the game away early in the fifth with a five-hit, four-run fourth. In that bottom of the fifth, Hayden Zarn had an RBI single, Petermann had an RBI double and Talan Helget had a two-run walkoff single.

Arian Saenz took the Game 1 loss in three innings of work, giving up eight hits and a walk for six earned runs while striking out one.

Schmitz got the five-inning shutout, allowing four hits and no walks while striking out one.

Kaleb Butenhoff and Caden Evers each had a single into the outfield in Game 1 for the Indians, while Connor Strong and Saenz reached on infield singles for the other two Sleepy Eye hits.

Schmitz also led the Knights at the plate in Game 1, going 3 for 3 with two RBIs, while Petermann was 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Kosak and Helget each went 2 for 4.

The nightcap was anything but pretty, but the Indians were happy to bounce back and even the score.

The Indians tied the game at 1-all in the second inning after Nick Mielke walked and scored later on a wild pitch. They then broke things open with a six-run third inning that was highlighted on a two-run double by Evers.

The Knights also committed four costly errors that the Indians took advantage of during the breakout inning.

Both teams committed six errors apiece in Game 2, but the Knights couldn’t bring enough runners around in the end, stranding nine men on base.

Schmitz and Anderson each went 1 for 3 for the Knights in the second game, while Helget was 1 for 4. Anderson took the Game 2 loss on the mound, giving up two hits and four walks for four earned runs while striking out five in three innings.

Evers, Marcus Martinez and Butenhoff were each 1 for 2 at the plate in Game 2 for the Indians, with Martinez’s hit being a double, while Austin Uecker went 1 for 4. Nick Mielke was held hitless for the Indians in the second game but walked three times and scored all three times.

Mielke got the win on the mound in Game 2 also, pitching 5 2/3 innings and allowing two hits and two walks for two unearned runs while striking out seven. Winsten Nienhaus pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing one walk while fanning two.

Sleepy Eye hosts Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop for conference action on Monday, while St. Mary’s is at Springfield on Monday for conference play.