Plenty of runs and strikeouts for the Prior Lake baseball team to open the season.

The Lakers have scored 20 runs in their first two games, including a 10-3 win at Lakeville South April 18 in their South Suburban Conference opener. Prior Lake won 10-1 versus Coon Rapids in its first game April 14.

Pitching is suppose to the Lakers’ strength with two Division I talents leading the staff in Tyus Smith and Matthew Totten, who have signed to pitch next fall at South Dakota State University and Purdue University, respectively.

So far, the Lakers’ staff has combined for 30 strikeouts in the two wins from four different pitchers.

Totten went five innings and struck out 12 in the Lakers’ win over Coon Rapids. He allowed four hits and one run. Senior Joe Stelzig pitched the final two innings with four strikeouts.

Against Lakeville South, junior Hudson Johnson also fanned 12 batters, working 5 1/3 scoreless frames and giving up four hits. Senior Blake Helberg finished the game, giving up three runs in 1 2/3 innings with two strikeouts.

Prior Lake led 4-0 after four innings and tacked on four more runs in the fifth inning to lead 8-0.

Junior Jackson Golberg tripled and drove in a run for Prior Lake, while senior Cole Sprecher finished 2 for 2 with two RBIs. Senior Nate Bodine doubled and drove in two runs, while Totten finished 1 for 3 with a double, RBI and two runs scored.

Sophomore Nikhil Kandi also doubled and drove in a run for the Lakers, while junior Hayden Anthony finished 1 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

In beating Coon Rapids, Golberg and Anthony each finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs, while Totten was 1 for 2 with a double and a run scored. Sprecher also doubled and drove in a run.

Junior Linus Fleek had a pair of RBIs for the Lakers, while junior Jaxson Barrett and senior Matthew Johnson each drove in one run. Bodine reached four times with a hit and four walks, scoring a run.

Prior Lake will get its first look at a Section 2AAAA foe April 24 at home in league play versus Shakopee.

Section 2AAAA play starts May 26 with the title game set for June 5. Chanhassen is the defending champion, opening the season ranked No. 3 in the preseason Class 4A poll. Chaska is also a ranked team in the section at No 7.

The first two rounds of the Class 4A state tournament will be June 13-14 at CHS Field in St. Paul. The title game is June 16 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Stillwater is the defending champion, beating Farmington in the title game last spring.

Eighth-ranked Farmington, the 2021 state champs, is the defending SSC champion.