ADM baseball won ugly Monday night in the belated home opener, hanging on for a 5-4 win over Carroll thanks to some timely hitting, sloppy fielding and a six-out save from senior Ethan Herron.

Starter Sam Kornstad scored the game-winning run in the fifth on an error, and Herron worked around two walks in the seventh to pick up his first save of the season and make a winner out of Kornstad.

Kornstad (1-0) lead off the fifth with a standup triple that was misplayed by center field Cavan Eberle, who tried to make a sliding grab and had the ball bounce past him and roll all the way to the wall. Kornstad scored two batters later when Carroll second baseman Tanner White let Jack Obrien’s grounder go between his legs, giving ADM (3-1, 1-0 RRC) the final 5-4 margin.

Herron walked the first two hitters in the top of the seventh but settled down from there, getting Kyle Christensen to bounce into a 1-6-3 double play and striking out Mason Millard looking to end the game.

Kornstad went five innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. He started the game strong, striking out six through the first three innings while allowing just one run on two hits. He allowed an unearned run in the fourth and the ran into trouble in the fifth, when he appeared to run out of gas.

Kornstad walked three in that final inning of work, but did get some big help from his defense. After walking No. 9 hitter Tanner White to open the fifth, he promptly picked off pinch runner Austin Lowe. He then walked the next two hitters before Petyon Renning doubled to deep left.

Christensen scored from second, but Millard, the trail runner, was gunned down at the plate on a perfect 7-5-2 relay from Colin Gavin to Logan Lemke to Elijah McCartney. Renning advanced to third on the throw home, however, and later scored on Kornstad’s wild pitch, knotting the game at 4. Joe Sloss ended the inning with a sparkling play at short, diving to his right with full extension to rob Carroll’s Ben Wellendorf of a hit.

Then came Kornstad’s redemption in the bottom half, as ADM  opened conference play with a victory.

Carroll starter Cooper LaRue (0-1) went five innings, surrendering five runs (three earned) with four strikeouts and three walks in the losing cause. His defense let him down, as Carroll (2-2, 0-1 RRC), committed three errors, two leading to ADM runs.

ADM has Tuesday off before continuing their brief two-game homestand against Boone at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, a game that can be heard live on K107.