St. Bede rides early lead and small-ball offense to 8-5 win over Ottawa

The St. Bede Bruins jumped out to an early lead and held on for an 8-5 victory over Ottawa on Saturday afternoon.

St. Bede starting pitcher Gino Ferrari opened the game striking out five straight Ottawa batters.

His early dominance helped set the tone for the Bruins, allowing them to maintain a lead from start to finish.

St. Bede head coach Bill Booker was pleased with his team’s overall performance, particularly from Ferrari.

“I think Gino had really good command today,” Booker said. “He definitely got into a rhythm early today. His pitch count got up in the fourth, but we were happy with how he managed his pitches.”

Ferrari explained what worked for him early in the game.

“I thought my curveball was working nice today but the big thing was just getting ahead in the count,” Ferrari said. “They’re a good team with a lot of talented hitters and I’m glad I got to pitch against them.”

Ferrari struck out seven batters in 3⅓ innings, allowing four hits, three walks and three unearned runs on 83 pitches.

Ferrari earned the win, but it came with plenty of run support.

St. Bede relied on a small-ball approach to score eight runs, managing to consistently move runners into scoring position despite never hitting for extra bases.

The Bruins (2-0) finished with six singles, three walks, three hit batters and reached safely on three Ottawa errors.

Shortstop Gus Burr sparked the offense, going 2 for 4 with two singles and three RBIs. Ferrari also did his part at the plate, going 1 for 3 with two RBIs.

Booker said that he was happy with his team’s plate discipline and the overall progress it has made since earlier in the week.

“From the first game, I didn’t think we swung the bats very well,” Booker said. “We’ve worked hard this week on making better contact and just having better at-bats. I thought, for the most part, we had better at-bats today against a pretty good team.”

For Ottawa, the game took a rough turn early as they found themselves down 5-0.

However, the Pirates mounted a comeback in the fourth, scoring four runs, highlighted by a three-run blast to deep right field from catcher Adam Swanson, cutting the deficit to a run.

That would be the closest Ottawa would get, as the Bruins added three insurance runs in the sixth inning, capitalizing on four singles from the top half of the order.

The Pirates finished the game with seven hits and four walks. Center fielder Jaxon Cooper went 2 for 3 with one RBI and one run."

Ottawa (2-1) head coach Levi Ericson was pleased with his team’s resilience in the comeback effort.

Regardless, he wasn’t happy with their defensive performance, particularly after committing three errors, two of which occurred in the second inning and put them in an early hole.

“I think we showed a bit of battle today,” Ericson said. “We spotted them five runs in the second with some self-inflicted wounds. But we did put that four spot up, and the big home run from Adam [Swanson] put us in a position to at least come back and compete down the stretch. I feel like we kind of let this one slip away with our own errors.”

Despite it being the first loss of the season, Ericson knows his team has room for improvement and wants to see more out of his players in early innings.

“We’ve got to be better at starting games on a positive note. All three of our games so far, we’ve been down by four – today, we got down five early. We need to find the energy to come out strong instead of always playing from behind.”

St. Bede will host Fieldcrest on Tuesday, while Ottawa travels to Rock Island on Monday.