Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Merrick Mathiowetz (16) high-fives Tyler Mathiowetz (2) after they both score in a Tomahawk Division baseball game against Wabasso Monday at Eagles Ballpark.

SLEEPY EYE — Despite some sprinkles of rain early in a Tomahawk Division baseball game between Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s and Wabasso on Monday, St. Mary’s kept the bats going to score nine runs in the first two innings to come away with an 11-3 win.

“I thought it was important to [get the bats going early],” St. Mary’s head coach Bruce Woitas said. “Our last outing — we played Springfield a week ago — we didn’t come out very good. Our pitchers didn’t throw strikes, we didn’t field the ball, and today, Talan [Helget] came out and established the strike zone right away, and we did a nice job of putting the ball in play and we got some run support early on. And I think we played errorless ball in the game as well. When you do that, you give yourself a chance to win.”

Talan Helget picked up the win for St. Mary’s, striking out two while allowing three earned runs on four hits in four innings. Tyler Mathiowetz pitched three innings in relief, striking out two and allowing no runs on two hits. At the plate for St. Mary’s, Helget had a triple and a double with an RBI, while Landry Folkens had two doubles and two RBIs. Michael Balko was 2 for 3 with a run scored, and Kessler Severson was 1 for 2 with two RBIs, a double, two stolen bases and a run scored. Merrick Mathiowetz added a triple, an RBI, two stolen bases and three runs scored.

Helget said the key to the game was putting behind the doubleheader losses to Springfield the previous week.

“I think it was to just get the first game of the way,” he said. “Get all the nerves out, have some good practices before this and just learn from our mistakes in the first one.”

Ethan Jenniges took the loss for Wabasso, striking out four while allowing nine runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings. Caden Frericks pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief, striking out four and allowing two unearned runs on four hits. At the plate, Jack Burns had a hit and an RBI, while Calvin Hanna had a hit and two runs scored.

St. Mary’s got going right away in the first inning, with a double by Severson driving in Tyler Mathiowetz and Merrick Mathiowetz. Jack Windschitl drove in one more on a single to make it a 3-0 game.

Wabasso responded with a run in the second inning, with Zach Skoblik grounding into a double play to score Hanna. Tyler Mathiowetz limited the damage with a diving catch in center field to end the inning.

St. Mary’s got that run back and more in the bottom of the inning, starting with triple from Helget that scored Balko. Two at-bats later, Merrick Mathiowetz hit another triple to score Helget, and after Severson drew a walk and Brandon Braulick reach on an error that scored Merrick Mathiowetz, Severson scored on a wild pitch to make it a 7-1 game. Folkens doubled to bring home Braulick and Windschitl to increase the lead to 9-1.

After a scoreless third inning, Wabasso gained some ground with two runs in the fourth. A single by Frericks and a walk by Hanna set up Burns to plate Frericks on a groundout. Hanna scored later on a wild pitch, and while Cason Olson and Drew Kemp each got on base on singles, Helget and the Knights defense were able to get out of the inning with a groundout.

St. Mary’s was able to extend the lead once more in the fifth, with a double by Helget and a walk by Mathiowetz leading to two runs, with Helget scoring on a wild pitch and Mathiowetz on a double steal with Severson. St. Mary’s was nearly able to score again in the sixth, loading the bases with a double from Folkens and walks from Balko and Helget, but closing pitcher Kaysen Harms stopped the damage with a groundout. Tyler Mathiowetz put together a scoreless inning in the seventh to close it thanks to a double play from shortstop Merrick Mathiowetz, who snagged a line drive before throwing it to first for the second out.

St. Mary’s (1-2, 1-2) hosts Cleveland on Tuesday. Wabasso (1-3, 0-3) travels to play Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove on Tuesday.