Staff photo by Ari Selvey Stark’s Nick Labat crosses home plate in the fifth inning of a Tomahawk East League amateur baseball game Wednesday at Stark Baseball Field.

STARK — The Stark Longhorns pulled to .500 on the season in their final game of Tomahawk East League amateur baseball play on Wednesday, defeating the Sleepy Eye Indians 5-1.

Stark moved to an 8-8 record in the TEL.

Sleepy Eye dropped to 5-11 to finish out the regular season.

Stark has one non-league game remaining, a matchup at Delano at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Adam Sellner picked up the win for Stark, striking out three in five shutout innings, allowing just one hit. Jon Kopacek pitched four innings, striking out five and allowing one unearned run on two hits. At the plate for the Longhorns, Arian Saenz was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored while Nick Labat was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Sean Mathiowetz had a hit and an RBI also for Stark, while Spencer Osmonson added a hit and an RBI.

Luke Mielke took the loss for Sleepy Eye, striking out one while allowing four runs on six hits in five innings. Jake Mielke pitched three innings, striking out three while allowing one run on one hit. At the plate, Luke Mielke was 1 for 4 with a run scored while Matt Sellner and Nick Mielke each had a hit.

The game started slow offensively, with both starting pitchers doing well. Stark was the first to break through in the fourth, with David Surprenant reaching on an error and taking second on a single by Saenz. Surprenant scored on a throwdown to third that went into the outfield, then Saenz scored on a single.

Stark kept the scoring going in the fifth, with Labat singling and coming home on a double by Mathiowetz. Mathiowetz got to third on a single by Surprenant, then was batted home by a single by Saenz. Sleepy Eye got out of the inning when a line drive to third was caught by a leaping Marcus Martinez.

Sleepy Eye got one back in the top of the sixth, with Luke Mielke drawing a walk, taking second on a hit by Matt Sellner, then scoring on an error. Stark responded in the seventh, with Surprenant drawing a walk and taking third on a single by Saenz. A double play got two outs for Sleepy Eye, but Surprenant scored on the action, making in 5-1.

Kopacek and the Stark defense shut down any hope of a comeback in the final two innings, retiring six Indians batters consecutively with three strikeouts to close out the game.