It all goes Marmion’s way against St. Francis

You know it’s going to be a good day for your baseball team when …

Your leadoff hitter reaches base five straight times and scores 3 runs.

You score runs in every inning.

Your first five batters combine to finish 12-for-18 with a pair of walks and a hit batsman.

Plus, your starting pitcher strikes out 6 of the first 10 batters he faces, and ends up throwing 5 scoreless innings of 3-hit ball.

Add all of that up and you have the storyline behind Marmion’s 11-1, 6-inning triumph over Suburban Christian Blue rival St. Francis (11-10, 5-5) Monday afternoon at Joe Nardone Field in Aurora.

Leadoff man Mike Pipp, who went 3-for-3 with a pair of walks, drew a base on balls from Spartans starting pitcher Eric Bacon and scored the game’s first run on A.J. Friedman’s RBI double to put the Cadets on top early.

Senior catcher Kyle Kozak (2-for-3, 3 RBI) followed with an RBI double, and Andy Young took one for the team moments later as he got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 3-0.

In the second, Connor Medernach’s ground rule double drove Mitch Sterne home with the Cadets’ fourth run, and they added single runs in the third and fourth to up the lead to 6-0.

“When the top of the order gets on like that, for any team it makes them tough to beat,” said Marmion coach Dave Rakow.

Marmion, which finished with 6 extra-base hits, extended its lead to 9-0 with 3 more fifth-inning runs, courtesy of Kozak’s 2-run single and Medernach’s RBI triple.

Pipp, Sterne, Friedman, Kozak, Medernach, Pete Bowe, and Young all had at least 1 RBI for the Cadets (11-8, 8-2).

“I’ll take that,” said Rakow, whose team also stole 5 bases and drew 5 walks. “That makes us a tough team to pitch to because you can’t assume you’re going to get any free outs.

“We ran the bases really well, and I liked our approach at the plate. We got a couple of lucky base hits that kind of dinked in there but overall we played really well.”

After the Spartans got on the board with an unearned run in the sixth, the Cadets ended the contest in the bottom half of the frame on Sterne’s 2-run double.

“Overall, it was probably the best game we’ve played all year,” said Rakow.

The left-handed hitting Pipp drew walks to lead off the first and second innings, as the Cadets sent 15 batters to the plate in the first 2 frames.

“The key is swinging at pitches I can hit,” said Pipp. “My first two at-bats, I didn’t get anything I could hit so I got on (walks). That’s the job of a leadoff hitter — be patient and get on base so that the other guys can bring you in.”

Junior Connor Riley (3-1) earned the victory on the mound, fanning six and walking one through 5 innings before A.J. Bohr worked the sixth.

“Connor only gets into trouble when he has trouble locating his pitches,” said Rakow. “When he’s throwing strikes, he’s very tough to hit.”

Alex Alcantar had 2 of the 4 hits for the Spartans, who host Marmion today in Wheaton.

“We just got beat,” said St. Francis coach Rich Janor. “Their hitters were better than us. Our pitchers were working behind in the count a lot and consequently had to throw some fastballs down the middle, and they made us pay.”