By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Ah, yes!
Another ho-hum St. Anthony-Altamont baseball game.
Actually, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, it seems like every time these two teams meet on the diamond, it becomes – as ESPN would call it – an “Instant Classic.”
That was certainly the case – again – Saturday.
It took nearly three hours, 407 total pitches and 12 innings to determine the winner.
But when Will Hoene lined a single into right-centerfield, it allowed Max Koenig to race home with the run that not only clinched the 6-5 victory, but also the Brownstown Class 1A Regional championship for the Bulldogs.
“These are two good programs going at it. There is nothing but total respect for each other,” said St. Anthony coach Tony Kreke following the game. “Neither team is going to give up. Every time we play each other, it seems like it’s a one-run ball game. It’s a great rivalry and you know it’s always going to be a dogfight.”
That “dogfight” went into the bottom of the 12th inning. But it took just four pitches to end it.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
The St. Anthony Bulldogs have been one of the best Class 1A baseball teams in the state the entire season.
Coach Tony Kreke says that’s due to consistency.
“Consistency is huge,” Kreke said. “And we’ve remained consistent all year.”
The Bulldogs showed why many believe they can make a deep run in the postseason over the past three nights in the annual City Series. They have solid pitching, excellent defense and hitting up and down their lineup.
All of that was on display Friday night at Paul Smith Field.
The Bulldogs banged out 13 hits, made several excellent plays in the field and received an outstanding pitching performance.
That combination resulted in a 10-2 win over Effingham and clinched the City Series championship, taking the three-game series 2-1.
“The City Series is a great event,” Kreke said. “There’s always an awesome atmosphere. I’m proud the boys didn’t let the moment get too big.”
It helped by scoring five runs in the opening inning.
The St. Anthony Bulldogs were named the No. 1 seed in the Brownstown Class 1A Regional, which will open play on Monday, May 15.
There are five teams in that regional, including Altamont, Ramsey, Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City and St. Elmo/Brownstown.
The winner of the Brownstown Regional will advance to the Altamont Sectional, which is scheduled for May 24 and May 27. Winners of the regionals at Tuscola, Farina (South Central) and Neoga will also advance to Altamont.
Here is the schedule for the Brownstown Regional:
Monday, May 15
Game 1 – 4:30 p.m. -- Ramsey (#10) vs. Cowden Herrick/Beecher City (#7)
Wednesday, May 17
Game 2 – 4:30 p.m. -- St. Anthony (#1) vs. Winner Game 1
Thursday, May 18
Game 3 – 4:30 p.m. – Altamont (#4) vs. St. Elmo/Brownstown (#5)
Saturday, May 20
Game 4 – 10 a.m. – Winner Game vs. Winner Game 3 (championship)
The City Series baseball championship will be on the line tonight (Friday) at Paul Smith Field.
A deciding Game 3 became necessary after the St. Anthony Bulldogs used power and pitching to post a 4-0 win Thursday night to even the series at 1-1.
The championship contest is slated to begin at 7 tonight.
After Josh McDevitt turned in a dominating pitching performance in the Hearts 8-1 win Wednesday night, it was Brock Fearday’s turn Thursday at Evergreen Hollow Park.
St. Anthony’s sophomore righthander limited EHS to just five hits over his 109-pitch, seven-inning performance. He walked four and struck out 10.
The Hearts had some scoring opportunities, but Fearday was able to get the key outs each time. EHS had two runners on in the first, fifth and sixth, but were unable to push any of them across the plate.
Kaden Nichols also pitched well for Effingham, but a pair of long balls were the difference.
The first came off the bat of Eli Levitt in the bottom of the first. The senior launched a 2-0 pitch over the leftfield fence to stake the Bulldogs to the early lead.
The deciding blow came in the third. After Ryan Schmidt drew a lead-off walk, Levitt singled with one out. Then with two outs, Connor Roepke lined a 1-2 pitch over that same leftfield fence to increase St. Anthony’s lead to 4-0.
That’s all Fearday and the Bulldogs needed to set up the deciding third game. After the turnout at each of the first two contests, a large crowd is expected tonight at Paul Smith Field.
The Bulldogs are now 21-4 on the season. The Hearts saw their seven-game winning streak snapped and are now 15-12.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Timely hitting.
Regardless of the level – from youth league to high school to the majors – baseball coaches talk about the importance of delivering those clutch hits with runners in scoring position. The teams that do are generally successful.
That certainly proved to be the case Thursday in the sectional semifinals at Paul Smith Field.
The St. Anthony Bulldogs went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position through the first six innings. Windsor/Stew-Stras, however, delivered three two-out hits that drove in four runs and helped build a big lead.
The Bulldogs staged a seventh-inning rally, but it was too much of a deficit to overcome, as the Hatchets finished with a 10-5 victory and a berth in the Class 1A St. Anthony Regional championship game.
The inability to deliver a key hit started in the opening inning. A walk to Beau Adams and back-to-back bunt singles by Colton Fearday and Eli Levitt loaded the bases with no outs. After a pop up, Brock Fearday was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Eli Link then flied out into shallow rightfield in what turned out to be a double play.
“That was a big opportunity that we missed,” St. Anthony coach Tony Kreke admitted. “We had a chance to grab a good lead, but just weren’t able to get that big hit. We made a couple baserunning mistakes today, but we had our chances early. We just couldn’t get that timely hit.”
WSS got a two-out RBI single by Kendall Morris in the second and another by Jordan Wittenberg in the third to take a 2-1 lead.
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