STANTON — Craig Heinonen Coldwell Banker notched a 8-2 victory over Houghton Building Supply on Thursday at the Stanton ball field.

Ross Kinnunen, player-manager for Coldwell Banker, said the strong pitching performance of their right hander Brady Turner was key to keeping them in the game. In the course of six innings, Turner struck out 10 batters. This included fanning two HBS batters each in frames two through six.

“Brady was on his game,” Kinnunen said. “He threw strikes. and we had some good defense to back him up.”

Coldwell Banker (6-3) also had some strong bats in jumping to a five-run lead in the top of the first. They came off of HBS’s starting pitcher Alex Tallman.

Brady Turner started the Coldwell first by striking out. Second baseman Brett Halonen then stepped in and was hit by a pitch putting him on first. Brian Joupperi advanced him on a base hit to center and Carson Turner walked. Luke Paul then hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning, but Coldwell wasn’t done as they turned on the small ball. Owen Kariniemi, Wes Johnson and Kinnunen all came through with base hits and cleared the bases before Brady Turner came up again and grounded out to end the inning.

“That first inning was big,” Kinnunen said. “It gave us some breathing room. I know Brady liked the feeling of having a five-run lead before starting.”

In the bottom of the first, HBS-Stanton catcher Kevin Bostwick crossed home for the home team’s first run. Connor Hannon did the same in the third after reaching first on a walk and trotting across home a batter later thanks to a Bostwick hard-hit double to left center.

Coldwell Banker added three more runs for the 8-2 win. This included Carson Turner scoring in the fourth and in the sixth. Paul came in to relieve Brady Turner from the mound in the seventh and Bostwick pitched the seventh for HBS-Stanton.

With the loss, HBS-Stanton dropped to 3-8.

“We are missing some of our key players today,” said HBS-Stanton player-manager Daron Durocher. “Our younger guys are in a (American) Legion tournament this week. It is hard to play consistently with a new lineup each week. You put the team you can together each day and today just wasn’t one of our best days.”

Coldwell Banker 510 101 0 — 8

HBS-Stanton 101 000 0 — 2