While Brady Hatton was tossing a gem on the mound, his teammates were circling the bases often.

The combination of Hatton’s one-hitter and an 11-hit attack was more than enough as the St. Anthony Bulldogs posted a 13-0, five-inning shutout Tuesday afternoon at Flora.

Hatton allowed just two walks and a two-out double in the fourth in his 63-pitch outing. He stuck out four.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the first and then broke the game open by scoring 12 runs in the third, fourth and fifth.

In the third, Eli Levitt, Beau Adams and Colton Fearday each singled to start the inning and load the bases. Brody Niebrugge singled to drive in a run and Angelo Mendella walked to force in another. Will Hoene and Eli Link then added sacrifice flies to increase the St. Anthony lead to 5-0.

The Bulldogs added three more runs in the fourth and capped the scoring with a five-run fifth. Adams had a two-run single in that fifth inning, plus Fearday and Josh Blanchette added RBI singles.

The Bulldogs, now 3-2, will play Thursday at Altamont.

The Altamont Indians scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning Friday afternoon to rally for a 6-3 victory over St. Anthony and claim third place in the National Trail Conference Baseball Tournament, played at South Central in Kinmundy.

The Bulldogs had just scored three runs in the previous inning to take a one-run lead, but Altamont responded immediately.

Mason Robinson walked and Elam Dillan singled to get the comeback started. Tyler Robbins then singled to left to drive in the tying run. But the Indians were just getting started.

Kienon Eirhart walked to load the bases and Nathan Stuemke followed with another walk that forced in the go-ahead tally. Wyatt Phillips kept things going with an RBI single and the fourth run scored on an error.

St. Anthony had a great scoring opportunity in the bottom of the fifth. Angelo Mendella led off with a double, Eli Link reached on an error and Colton Fearday singled to load the bases with no outs. But a double play and a pop out ended the threat.

Altamont grabbed an early 2-0 lead, scoring single tallies in the second and fourth innings. Eirhart blasted a solo home run over the leftfield fence in the second and Phillips drove in the fourth inning run with an RBI ground out.

The Bulldogs took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Colton Fearday and Brody Niebrugge singled and Will Hoene walked to load the bases. Beau Adams sacrifice bunt drove in one run and the other two scored on a pair of passed balls.

Mason Robinson worked the first four innings for Altamont and got the win. He allowed four hits and three runs, while striking out five and walking two. Aden McManaway pitched the next 1.1 innings and Dillan recorded the final five outs to earn the save.

Eli Levitt took the loss. He pitched five innings, allowing six hits and six runs. He walked four and struck out five. Brock Fearday and Brady Hatton both worked one scoreless inning.

The Indians finished the fall season with a 15-8 record, while the Bulldogs end 15-7.

Brody Niebrugge pitched five innings and belted a two-run homer Monday, leading the St. Anthony Bulldogs to a 9-4 win at Salem.

The Bulldogs grabbed a quick lead and never looked back. Angelo Mendella led off the game with a triple and two batters later, Niebrugge followed with a blast over the leftfield fence to stake the Bulldogs to a 2-0 lead.

They added a run in the second, three unearned runs in the third and Colton Fearday delivered a two-run double in the fourth to increase the St. Anthony lead to 8-1.

Niebrugge allowed four runs on three hits in five innings of work. He walked six and struck out six. Eli Link pitched the final two innings, striking out four and giving up just one hit.

The Bulldogs, now 2-2, will play again today (Tuesday) at Flora.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

The combination of strong pitching and two costly errors proved to be too much to overcome for the St. Anthony Bulldogs.

Gavin Wernsing came within one out of a complete game shutout and Windsor/Stew-Stras took advantage of St. Anthony’s miscues to post a 7-0 victory Wednesday afternoon in a semifinal game of the National Trail Conference Baseball Tournament at Evergreen Hollow Park.

Wernsing, a left-hander with a power arm, limited the Bulldogs to just four hits, while striking out 10. He went 6.2 innings but had to leave the game after throwing his 116^th pitch. Samuel Vonderheide came in to record the final out.

“We’ve been facing Gavin since he was a freshman,” St. Anthony coach Tony Kreke said. “He commands the outside part of the strike zone and then throws his slider down and in. He gets a lot of swings and misses.

“He’s a very good pitcher,” Kreke added. “He’s going to the next level and he’ll be successful there, too. He pitched really well today.”

St. Anthony’s Colton Fearday also turned in a strong performance on the mound, but his defense let him down.

It started in the top of the third inning. Parker Chaney got an infield single with one out. After the next hitter was retired, Austin Wittenberg grounded a ball to deep short. Brady Hatton made a nice play and a strong throw to first, but Wittenberg beat it out.

Chaney never stopped running, trying to advance to third base. St. Anthony first baseman Brody Niebrugge tried to throw him out, but his throw got past third baseman Max Koenig and Chaney raced home with the first run of the game.

Read more ...