Baseball: Aurora Christian rallies past St. Edward

St. Edward knocked Aurora Christian down Tuesday, but the Eagles didn't stay on the canvas very long. They scored 6 runs over the final 4 innings to win 11-7 in nonconference action at the Stuart Sports Complex.

Josh Smoot smacked 3 hits for Aurora Christian (4-0).

At first it was all Fear and Loathing in Montgomery for St. Edward as AC starter Hunter Thompson held the Wave hitless for the first two innings while the Eagles took a 5-0 lead.

But St. Edward stunned the defending Class 1A champions with 6 runs in the third to go ahead. Run-scoring doubles by Jack Olson and Ben Boydston and RBI singles by Mike Lopez and Jeff Mamrot were the keys to the big inning.

The lead was short-lived, however, as the Eagles rallied for two in the fourth. Trey Madsen tripled to drive in a run and then scored the second.

After St. Ed tied it in the bottom half, the Eagles went ahead to stay in the fifth. They added three insurance runs in the sixth and sophomore reliever Mike Zelko made it stand up.

The contest was a St. Edward home game but had to be moved due to field conditions.

After striking out 17 times in a loss on Monday, the Wave fanned just 6 times and knocked out 6 hits against Thompson and Zelko.

"Even our outs were hit well, there were very few strikeouts," said Green Wave coach Mike Rolando. "I'm very proud of the kids, we're making progress. We've got a long way to go, but today was fun because we're hitting the ball and competing."

The Eagles jumped ahead early as Sam Tickel's triple to deep right field keyed a 2-run first inning and MJ Stavola's 2-run single capped a 3-run third.

And although they gave up the lead, the Eagles bounced right back.

"It was good to kind of regroup," said Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger. "It's a funny game sometimes. They started putting the ball in play and we started not fielding the ball. We were a little shaky there, but we know that we can still score runs, so fortunately we were able to come right back."

Aurora Christian committed 6 errors on a chilly evening, but the hitters more than made up for it.

Stavola had 2 hits, scored twice and drove in 3 runs for AC.

The Eagles pounded out 9 hits and took advantage of 8 walks by St. Edward pitching.

Lopez took the loss in relief of starter Joey Mandarino.