Baseball: Newman battles back, but comes up short against St. Bede in extra innings

STERLING – On a cold, extremely windy Thursday evening in Sterling, the Newman baseball team battled St. Bede, braving the elements for an eight-inning Three Rivers Conference game.

The Comets, who fell behind by two runs early, rallied to force an eighth inning, but couldn’t answer the Bruins’ final-inning run with one their own, falling 3-2.

“I thought St. Bede had more energy early. I thought they were more prepared to play tonight,” Newman coach Kenny Koerner said. “I thought we came out flat. I just thought St. Bede had a lot more energy and really wanted it a little bit more than we did tonight, and I think it showed.”

St. Bede took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning after Luke Story led off with a single to center field, Jayce Ladzinski singled to left field, and John Brady singled to right field, scoring Story.

In the top of the third, the Bruins added to their lead with another rally. Dan Dugosh led off with a single just inside the left-field line, then stole second while Logan Humpage was up to bat. Colin Nave followed a strikeout with a single to left field, and Story flew out to center field to score Dugosh for a 2-0 St. Bede lead.

In the bottom of the third, Newman answered, shaking off its slow start. After consecutive groundouts to open the frame, the Comets responded with back-to-back doubles. Brendan Tunink hit the first one, deep into left field, then Ethan Van Landuit hit one to center field, scoring Tunink.

Nolan Britt hit a grounder to reach base in the next at-bat, but Van Landuit was tagged out coming home, ending the inning.

Both teams were held scoreless for the next three innings until Newman finally broke through with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

Jaesen Johns started the rally with a single to center field, then Kyle Wolfe singled to short. St. Bede then made a pitching change, subbing Jake Delaney for Seth Ferrari.

Delaney hit Tunink with a pitch to load the bases, then Van Landuit flew out deep into center field, scoring Johns to tie the game at 2-2.

“That’s our team. I thought we were flat early, but I think the true showing the character of our team was how we came back there at the end,” Koerner said. “And that’s it. We did that last year. That’s been our signature the last couple of years. We just don’t give up. I was very proud of the kids for staying with it.”

In the top of the eighth, Ladzinski drew a leadoff walk for the Bruins, then Auggie Weisbrock was hit by a pitch, and Ryan Slingsby singled to left field to load the bases. Dugosh drew a bases-loaded walk in the next at-bat to score Ladzinski for the winning run.

“It’s a good win against a quality team. I’m happy for our guys, we needed something like this to springboard into the second half of our season,” St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. “I thought our young guy on the mound, our lefty [Ferrari], that was only a sophomore did a really nice job. Because of all the lefties in the lineup, I thought he’d be a good matchup.”

Britt took the loss, allowing two runs over five innings. Van Landuit went 1 for 3 with two RBIs to lead Newman hitters, Tunink finished 2-for-2 with a pair of walks, and Wolfe was 2-for-4.