Baseball: Seneca tops St. Bede in Tri-County Conference action

PERU – Seneca capitalized on a couple of costly miscues by St. Bede, which helped the Fighting Irish pick up a 4-1 victory in their Tri-County Conference baseball game Wednesday.

“We played well, and [pitcher] Austin Aldridge was on tonight, hitting his spots,” Seneca coach Tim Brungard said. “Plus our defense played real well. Casey [Clemmons] doesn’t get enough credit over there at first [base]. He scooped up a couple of bad throws that could have led to runs. That’s big in a tight ballgame.”

The game started with Seneca’s Paxton Giertz drawing a walk and the second hitter tapping it back to the mound. But the throw to second base was wild and ended up in center field, giving Seneca runners on first and third with nobody out.

Clemmons then singled in Giertz, and Nathan Neal moved to second. One batter later, Aldridge ripped an RBI double to put runners on second and third with one out. That’s when St. Bede pitcher Gino Ferrari muscled up and struck out the next two batters to keep the score 2-0 heading into the bottom of the first inning.

The next two innings saw the two pitchers allow very little. Ferrari (6IP, 3R, 1ER, 5H, 5K, 3BB) gave up only a walk, while Aldridge (7IP, 1R, 1ER, 5H, 3K, 1BB) tossed two perfect innings.

In the fourth, the Irish pushed across their third run when Cam Shirley led off with a single and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Aiden Vilcek. Kenny Dagger then delivered a run-scoring single, growing the Irish lead to 3-0.

The Bruins again had a good start in their half of the inning, as Alan Spencer and Ferrari had back-to-back hits. But St. Bede could not get the big hit it needed, Aldridge battled his way out, and the score remained 3-0 going into the fifth.

After a quiet fifth, St. Bede was back at it in the top of the sixth, getting the first two batters on as Ryan Slingsby singled and Gus Burr reached on a fielder’s choice. But the Irish defense stepped up again and turned a double play, and the Bruins wound up scoring only one run.

In the top of the seventh, Giertz reached again – this time on a Bruins error – and was moved to second by Neal before Clemmons delivered another RBI single to make the score 4-1.

In the bottom half, the Bruins made a little bit of noise as Evan Entrican singled and Geno Dinges walked, but Aldridge again proved too tough, and the Irish walked off 4-1 winners.

“It was a good ballgame. Can’t make small mistakes against a good team like that. We gave them opportunities and they took advantage,” St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. “We had chances but didn’t take advantage. We need to take better approaches at the plate and get some big hits. Against good teams, one run isn’t going to get it done.”