Seckman was in the perfect position to tie Parkway North in the top of the seventh inning with cleanup batter Nate Robinson at the plate and Drew Maloney and Zac Voss on base.
But Robinson swung at relief pitcher Matt Pulliam’s fastball down in the strike zone, and teammate Steven Reando grounded out to short for the last out in a 6-3 Parkway North win Saturday in St. Louis County.
“Nate’s been swinging the bat much better lately, and in that situation, you’re just looking for him to get on base and keep the line moving and their pitcher made a great pitch,” Seckman head coach Brad Hagedorn said. “We hit the ball well in the second game, it just went right at them.”
The Jaguars (9-8) played two games Saturday at Parkway North and came away with a split after beating St. Dominic 5-1 in the first contest. Donovan Summers pitched a complete game for Seckman against the Crusaders, limiting them to four hits and one walk.
“He will be around the strike zone the entire time,” Hagedorn said of Summers. “He attacked the zone the whole day and I don’t think (St. Dominic) hit the ball hard all day. They had a lot of routine fly outs.”
Maloney leads the Jaguars in hitting this season with a .391 average and led off both games Saturday with base hits. Maloney stole five bases in the two games and has a team-high 13 this season.
“Drew was all over the place with his speed,” Hagedorn said. “He did a great job to get in scoring position and take some pressure off the other guys.”
Against St. Dominic, Maloney reached third base in the first inning but the Crusaders kept him there with a strikeout of Robinson to end the threat. In the second, Reando was hit by a pitch, went to second on a ground out and scored on Jordan Clooney’s single to give the Jaguars a 1-0 lead.
The game remained that way until the bottom of the fifth inning, when the Jaguars scored three more times. Maloney walked and stole second. With one out, Voss reached on an error at first base, and Maloney scored to make it 2-0. Robinson’s double plated Voss for a 3-0 lead. Robinson then scored on a single by Ethon Anderson.
In the sixth, Dawson Katzenberger singled and scored on a double by Maloney and the Jags led 5-0.
“We looked tired in the first game until the fifth inning when Anderson had a hard-hit ball and Robinson had a double to the gap,” Hagedorn said. “The Zac Voss safety squeeze got a run in and he got to second on an errant throw on the second baseman. That was a big two runs.”
In the nightcap against the Vikings, Maloney singled, stole second base and came home for a quick 1-0 Seckman lead on Reando’s sacrifice fly to center.
“We knew we were going to have to score some runs. Parkway North’s a good offensive team. We took the lead right off the bat,” Hagedorn said.
Parkway North answered with a run off Seckman starting pitcher Jake Waeltermann in its half of the first, but the Jaguars took a 2-1 lead in the second when Anderson walked and stole second and came home on Katzenberger’s single. Katzenberger stole second and advanced to third on a balk by Cam Paul, but was thrown out at home by Ben Parks, the Vikings’ second baseman.
The Vikings scored three runs in the second and third innings to take a 4-2 lead and the Jaguars could never catch up, although Voss doubled and scored on Beattie’s single in the fifth to make it 4-3.
In five innings, Waeltermann allowed 10 hits and three of the five runs he allowed were earned. Noah Bodine came in relief in the sixth and gave up a hit and a run.
Despite being tagged with the loss, Hagedorn said he thought Waeltermann pitched a fine game.
“He was fantastic,” Hagedorn said. “He probably should have given up just one run. The defense didn’t make several plays behind him.”
After taking Monday off, the Jaguars were scheduled to play six games in four days this week as they continue to make games up from earlier rainouts. Seckman visits Parkway South today (Thursday) for a 4:15 p.m. games.
“It’s going to be busy and we’re going to need all of our pitchers,” Hagedorn said.