Baseball: Fenton bats come alive against ICCP
There was no stopping the hot Fenton baseball bats Tuesday.
One day after being no-hit until the sixth inning, the Bison pounded out 17 hits in a 15-7 win over IC Catholic Prep in the Metro Suburban Conference matchup.
Leading the offensive charge was Bryan Larsen, who put the home team in the lead for good with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first. The shortstop finished 4-for-5 at the plate.
"I was in a slump so today was overall a nice day for me," Larsen said. "It brought me back to where I should be.
"We came out here knowing our friend (IC's Austin Reed) was going to be pitching against us and that motivated us to do better. And the 3-2 loss yesterday (to the Knights) also pushed us. Coming alive early helped us."
Larsen's round-tripper was part of a 4-run opening inning. Fenton added four more in the second, with Joey Simoncelli and Tyler Santagata both contributing run-scoring doubles.
The advantage swelled to 10-0 by the third inning before the Knights pushed across 6 runs in the fifth, helped by four Bison errors. But Fenton answered with 5 runs as Simoncelli knocked in one with another double and Garrett Focht and Cory Schwarz each had RBI singles.
"I thought we'd have a tough time scoring, but our kids are resilient," Fenton coach Dave Schwabe said. "They didn't quit. The biggest thing was when they scored 6 runs, to come back with 5. That shows the character of this team, that was awesome. It made my day."
Jordan Vogel started on the mound and recorded the win while Brendan Tomzack came on in relief.
C.J. Cote knocked in a pair of runs for IC (15-10, 7-6) while Reed walked three times. It was only the fourth road game of the spring for the Knights, who have yet to win away from home.
"We've had a hard time getting up to play on the road," IC Catholic coach Zach Rodeghero said. "I have to figure out a way to get us better prepared for a road game because the state tournament is all road games. We played a great game yesterday and then we come out and do this."