Baseball: St. Francis grinds down Marmion
The Chicago Catholic League Blue can grind down any baseball team.
St. Francis and Marmion, however, are still standing tall.
They began their final Blue series of the season on Tuesday, with St. Francis holding on for a 5-3 victory over the Cadets in Wheaton.
The Spartans (10-12, 3-11) took a shutout to the seventh inning before Bryce Burton pulled Marmion (11-16, 6-7) within 2 runs on a bases-loaded, two-out triple. One pitch from reliever Tanner Spinks ended the game with a fly out.
St. Francis led 1-0 in the fourth inning and exploded for 4 runs on 5 hits in the fifth.
"It felt good in that fifth inning," said Spartans shortstop Matt Cooney. "We kind of play off our defense and if that's going well we usually hit and pitch pretty well. The 4-run inning was great, just being able to go through the order and put some runs on them."
The six other Blue teams all received top-five seeds in Class 4A sectionals including four of the top five at St. Laurence. Avoiding those powerhouses in the upcoming playoffs brings hope to St. Francis, sixth-seeded in the Class 3A Sterling sectional, and the Cadets, 13th seeded in the 4A Bartlett sectional.
Tuesday served as the first of many tuneups for regional play in two weeks.
Marmion loaded the bases to start the game, but Spartans sophomore starter Ben Radel struck out the next five batters and stranded five runners in the first two innings. Radel picked up the win with 5⅔ strong innings, striking out eight while allowing 3 hits.
"It's a totally different game if we're able to score early, but we just didn't make the adjustment against their pitcher," said Marmion coach Frank Chapman. "You've just got to credit their kid on the mound. We made no adjustments, and that's what you get. We just need to get back at it."
Marmion starter Ryan Fletcher retired the first six batters he faced, but the Spartans broke through in the fourth inning on Cooney's RBI single.
St. Francis started a one-out rally in the fifth with four straight hits, including a run-scoring single by Connor Cummings. Cooney added a 2-run single.
"We were struggling to get baserunners, but then we started to make adjustments and get some guys on base," said St. Francis coach Nick Hall. "They're a really good baseball team, so that's a nice win. We were finally able to get some barrels on some balls."
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