St. Francis' Stout spins shuts out against Fenton

As temperatures neared 70 degrees Tuesday afternoon, it felt more like the end of April rather than the end of March during Fenton's nonconference game against St. Francis at Redmond Park.

But Spartans southpaw Eric Stout made sure Fenton's bats didn't heat up as he limited the Bison to just one hit en route to an 8-0 St. Francis victory.

Stout kept the Bison off-balance the entire contest with a nice combination of fastballs and changeups.

"I pitched good," he said. "My pitching coach (Rick Dudzinski) called all the pitches. The guys behind me made some plays and helped me out."

Stout also helped himself out by going 2-for-3 at the plate. His RBI single in the first inning knocked in Mike Pugliese with the game's first run. Pugliese and Joel Birch led off the inning by drawing consecutive walks off Bison starter Vince Ellis. Birch later came home on an infield error, and Stout scored on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Jack Roback to make it 3-0.

St. Francis coach Rick Janor liked what he saw from Stout on the mound. He also praised the Spartans' defense - St. Francis didn't commit an error - and the sound, fundamental baseball Roback exhibited on his squeeze bunt.

"We're going to be a pitching and defensive oriented team," he said. "It was just a great individual effort by Eric Stout today, mixing up pitches, keeping hitters off-balance, throwing strikes. In three weeks of practice, we've tried to work on some of the little things in baseball - pick(off) plays, different types of bunting and different types of offensive strategies, so it's nice to see that implemented today."

The Spartans (5-1) tacked on four more runs in the sixth. Ryan Acciavati delivered the big hit in that inning - a bases-loaded double which drove in two runs.

Jon Wons added a double a single for St. Francis, which recorded its third shutout in six games.

"We're going to be a stingy defense," Janor said. "We take pride in our defense."

Stout fanned eight and walked three. Matt Swartz's line single to right-center to lead off the seventh ended Stout's bid for a no-hitter.

"(Stout) was mixing it up," said Fenton coach Brad Meyer. "He threw strike one, and that's the most important pitch. He did his job and we didn't do ours - it's as simple as that. I'm glad we got a hit on the board. We've got to be doing that earlier in the game - not worrying about that in the last inning."

The Bison (2-4-1), who won only three games last season, defeated Sandwich 3-2 on Monday for their second victory of 2010.

"Today was probably the least competitive we have been," Meyer said. "But like I told them, we're like a roller coaster right now. We're too inconsistent; we're up and down, up and down. We've got to stay on an even keel."

Big right-hander Richie Rebmann, who chalked up saves in both Fenton victories, looked good in the 11/3 innings he pitched on Tuesday. Rebmann struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the seventh.

"He won a big game for us against Sandwich," Meyer said. "Richie's been throwing strikes. He's a guy that I have a lot of confidence in at the end of a game."

The Spartans host Belvidere North at 11 a.m. Wednesday while the Bison visit Wheeling at 4:30 p.m.