After two innings, it looked like it was going to be a hotly contested game. But with Quinn Saunders settling in on the mound, and the offense churning out big hits, St. Anne’s-Belfield took control and never relinquished it, pushing on to pick up an 11-3 win over rival St. Christopher’s.
“All of the sudden, we started hitting,” said STAB coach Alan Swanson. “The middle of our lineup performed very well today. The guys got on base and the guys got big hits.”
St. Christopher’s scored a run to start the first inning, and a two-run shot from William Banard in the second put the deficit at three runs for St. Anne’s. But that would be it.
Saunders plowed through batters for the next five innings, striking out nine and walking just two sas he managed to pick up the complete game victory.
“Quinn’s pitch count was getting a little high in the beginning but then it was real low after that,” Swanson said. “He wanted the ball so we gave it to him. I thought he pitched masterfully.”
After the slow start, Saunders challenged St. Christopher’s to put the ball in play as he consistently worked the strike zone. And when the ball was put in play, the St. Anne’s defense came through for its pitcher.
“I was a little shaky at first but after that I was able to throw all three of my pitches — fastball, curveball and change-up — for strikes,” Saunders said. “It made it easy to keep the hitters off balance but we had a lot of good defense, a clutch double play from Cole Marston and Brian Yeagle in the bottom of the sixth.”
STAB cut the lead to 1-run in the bottom of the second after David Spinosa came through with an RBI triple and Charley Murray followed in the very next at-bat with an RBI single.
“I tried to stay inside the ball and go the opposite field mostly,” Spinosa said. “They were throwing kind of outside so that helped and it worked.”
In the next inning, St. Anne’s popped off for six more runs, including yet another triple from Spinosa, this time with the bases loaded. STAB then also got a solo-shot over the centerfield wall from Dustin Baelow.
“I was looking for a pitch to squeeze there,” Swanson said of Baelow’s at-bat. “But it never came and then he came up with the big hit.”
STAB added three more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth as John Siciliano, Cole Marston and Saunders each came up with 1-run singles.
Spinosa was 2 for 4 with four RBIs. Austin Yeagle finished the game 2 for 2 with an RBI and two runs scored.
St. Anne’s (12-2) travels to Trinity on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
