Baseball: Wheaton Academy defeats St. Francis

Credit Shane Baumgarten with the save.

And the kick save.

Baumgarten retired all four batters he faced on Monday to wrap up Wheaton Academy's 3-2 Metro Suburban Conference Blue baseball victory over St. Francis in Wheaton.

The sophomore right-hander, relieving starter Peter Crowe, stranded the tying run at third base to end the sixth inning and then retired the side in order in the seventh. That included a one-out shot up the middle that Baumgarten knocked down with his foot before tossing the ball to first for an out.

With the Warriors (14-10, 6-3) still eyeing a late run at the Blue title, breaking their five-game losing streak was paramount. At the same time they broke a seven-game winning streak by division-leading St. Francis (15-4, 5-2).

"We've got a lot of talent on the team," Baumgarten said. "Just knowing we can beat a quality team like this, we've got some confidence back now."

Wheaton Academy led twice, only to see the Spartans tie it twice leading up to the sixth inning. Baumgarten singled in the sixth and scored what turned out to be the game-winning run on Marcus Bult's RBI single up the middle.

Crowe earned the win while scattering 4 hits in 5⅔ innings. He escaped a third-inning jam with a lineout that turned into a double play. Another St. Francis runner was out in the first inning when he was hit by a batted ball while trying to get to third.

"Those blunders we had," said St. Francis coach Nick Hall. "Those things don't matter when you score 9 or 10 runs but they matter in close ballgames. It's baseball and you've got to find a way to win."

Max Martin, who went 2-for-4, singled in the game's first run for Wheaton Academy in the top of the third inning. A wild pitch scored Michael Cascella with the tying run in the bottom of the third.

Joe Schaffer gave the Warriors a 2-1 fifth-inning lead with an RBI double, only to be answered by a run-scoring single by Nick Kosmetatos, who went 2-for-4, in the bottom of the inning.

St. Francis starter Ben Radel struck out nine in 6⅔ innings.

"Our guys didn't let a situation or circumstance get to them," said Warriors coach Justin Swider. "They were just focused on the next pitch and the next at-bat, and they competed today. We've lost a lot of close games and we challenged our guys that we have to find it."