In the throes of a one-run baseball game against a team that finished third in the state last season, St. Pius X needed to be almost perfect to win a district championship.
Instead, the Lancers, who were in the midst of a 16-game winning streak, suffered a meltdown defensively and committed a series of errors, passed balls and wild pitches en route to a 6-3 loss to West County in the Class 3 District 3 final on May 16.
“Routine plays can make you or break you and they kind of broke us today,” St. Pius head coach Jerry Woods said. “Hand it to West County, they do a fine job under pressure and it shows that they were a final four team last year.”
St. Pius jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Tyler Hedtkamp beat out an infield single with one out and scored on Kaleb Schweigert’s two-out double off of Bulldog starter Zachary Francis for the first run. Schweigert, who had the game-winning hit the day before against Arcadia Valley, scored on Ryan Almany’s double and it was 2-0.
With one out in the Bulldogs’ first, Tate Roberts reached on an error and advanced to third on a single by Ty Simily off of St. Pius starting pitcher Jeremy Isenman. Roberts scored on a passed ball to cut the Lancers lead to 2-1. After catcher Noah Lampros dropped a called third strike on Joey Steinmetz, Dakota Dowd’s ground ball got under the glove of St. Pius shortstop Eli Dale, and both Bulldogs scored to give them a 3-2 lead.
Isenman and Francis each bore down after the first and shut out their opponents over the next three innings.
Clinging to its 3-2 edge in the fifth, West County knocked Isenman off the mound in favor of Dale after Isenman walked Hayden Roney, Steinmetz and Peyton Nipper. Roney scored on a wild pitch by Dale to make it 4-2.
Francis hit Almany with a pitch with one out in the sixth and a double by Isenman gave the Lancers two runners in scoring position. Lampros drove in Almany with a fielder’s choice to shortstop and Brendan Weatherholt’s deep drive to right field was caught for the third out feet from the fence.
“That’s baseball,” Dale said as he grabbed his glove and headed back to the mound.
Dale walked Nate Kinnard to lead off the Bulldogs’ sixth before striking out Francis. With one out, Roberts singled and the throw home arrived before Kinnard, but Lampros dropped it and Kinnard scored.
Roney tagged up to make it 6-3 after reaching on an error, stealing second base and taking third on another error.
The Lancers’ No. 9 hitter, Adam Edwards, singled off of Francis to lead off the seventh as St. Pius attempted to rally for a second straight day. Dustin Burch then drew a walk to give the Lancers two runners on and nobody out. Hedtkamp flied out to left field and Edwards and Burch moved up a base after Dale hit into an infield fly for the second out.
Schweigert came to the plate as the tying run but popped up to third base to end the game.
“I told the boys to hold their heads up because they had a great season. It just wasn’t our day,” said Woods, whose team finished 19-3.
St. Pius X won its 16th straight game in walk-off fashion May 15 in the district semifinals.
Trailing Arcadia Valley 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Edwards led off for the Lancers in the seventh, was hit by a pitch and took first base. Taylon Jones, Arcadia Valley’s starting pitcher, struck out Burch on three pitches and got Hedtkamp to pop out foul to the catcher.
But the rally began when Dale singled and Edwards reached third base. Schweigert dropped a base hit into short right field. Edwards trotted in with the tying run and Dale kept sprinting around the bases until he crossed home plate with a 4-3 St. Pius victory.
Schweigert was 0-for-3 at the plate before his game-winning at-bat.
“The first pitch was a ball and I told Adam on third base to stay. Then (Jones) threw me an outside strike and I knew it was time to buckle down and get a hit. At first I thought (the outfielder) was going to catch it, it fell in and Eli Dale hustled all the way around the bases.”
The game was a continuation of Monday’s rainout, which was tied 2-2 in the third inning when it resumed Tuesday. A double by Almany, a triple by Isenman and a single by Zander Parson accounted for the Lancers two runs on Monday.
Isenman was the starting pitcher Monday, but he walked two, allowed three hits and three runs. Hedtkamp took the hill for St. Pius on Tuesday and earned the win after pitching five scoreless innings and striking out six.
“Tyler did a tremendous job today,” Woods said. “He started the game with two runners on base and his pitching like that set us for success (against West County).”
Offense dries up in district loss
Festus scored 200 runs in 24 games this season.
“We had probably one of the best offensive seasons as a team that we have had in a while,” Festus head coach Jeff Montgomery said. “This group of eight seniors did a lot for the program and had a great attitude all year.”
But the Tigers (16-8) could only muster two runs in a season-ending 4-2 defeat to Park Hills Central on May 16 in the Class 4 District 2 semifinals in Ste. Genevieve. Festus, the district’s No. 2 seed, scored 10 or more runs nine times this season, including 25 against District 3 champion Lutheran South on May 10.
The game against the Rebels, who went on to lose 7-2 to Potosi for the district championship, was played over two days, as it was disrupted by storms on May 15.
Scoreless going into the fourth inning, Festus left-hander Jake Leitner allowed all four Central runs in the frame and was tagged with the loss.
Leitner, one of the Tigers’ top hitters, departed after pitching five innings. He was relieved by Charlie Pratt, who tossed two scoreless innings, allowed three hits and struck out two.
Chase Cole had two of the six hits for Festus, and Leitner and Collin Mann had RBIs. The Tigers finished with more strikeouts (seven) than hits.
Festus sent 10 different pitchers to the mound this season and all pitched in a significant number of innings. Lefthander Jake Leitner and righty Blake Holland led the Tigers with 28 innings pitched. Leitner struck out twice the number of batters (25) than he walked (12) and carried a big stick to the plate batting .429 with 28 RBIs.
“We had an approach to just try what works and create matchups on the mound that might cause problems for the opposition,” Montgomery said. “This approach worked for us all year so that we could roll out there every week and get a complete game and seven to 10 strikeouts.”
Festus posted a record of 6-2 against Class 5 schools this year.
“We were one or two hits away from being in the district championship for the fourth time in five years,” Montgomery said. “This team was so much fun to coach.”
Hawks can’t get past district hump
Hillsboro hasn’t won a district baseball championship since 2011, when it beat Seckman 5-4 in 10 innings.
In the seven years between titles, Jackson has ended the Hawks’ season four times. The Indians and Poplar Bluff have taken turns winning Class 5 District 1 the past five years. Jackson beat the Mules 5-2 on May 14 to win this year’s crown.
After a 13-6 campaign in 2017, Hillsboro started this season 0-4 before running off five straight wins. Going into the district tournament, the Hawks had won four straight, including a 3-0 shutout over Potosi and 12-4 victory against Park Hills Central.
The loss to Jackson ended the Hawks’ season at an even 10-10.
Hillsboro head coach Kevin Lucas said the constant rainouts this spring kept the Hawks from getting into any kind of groove.
“Practicing in a gym all of the time makes it tough on the kids,” Lucas said. “I thought it was a good season despite not having a lot of kids with varsity experience.”
The Hawks began this year’s district tournament with a 4-3 win against Farmington on the back of starting pitcher Michael Brewer’s complete game. Brewer, senior Tyler Isaacson and sophomore Mark Moore each had two hits against the Knights.
Senior Dylan Blyzes started against Jackson and absorbed the loss after allowing eight hits and five runs in five innings.
Isaacson relieved Blyzes with the Hawks trailing 5-4 and walked three batters. After facing four batters, Isaacson was relieved by Christian Hancock, who came in with the bases loaded and promptly surrendered a triple.
“The wheels kind of came off after that,” Lucas said. “With the pitch counts rules, I had to make a change (relieving Blyzes) and that’s where they got us.”
Brewer was sturdy on the mound all season and was the team’s top hitter. He pitched in 10 games, finished 3-1 and struck out 52 batters in 35 2/3 innings. At the plate, he batted .429 and had 10 extra-base hits.
“He had the lead in some games when we had to bring him out,” Lucas said. “He could have easily been 4-1 or 5-1. He keeps getting better and better.”
Lucas promoted Moore to the varsity against Festus on May 1 and he hit .469 in limited action. Moore could replace Austin Fleming in center field next spring. Fleming was a defensive standout who led the team with seven stolen bases. Hancock played every game at shortstop, except when he was on the mound this year.
Blackcats get blanked
Herculaneum was hoping history would not repeat itself in the Class 3 District 4 championship. That hope faded with the setting sun on May 17 as, for the second straight year, the Blackcats couldn’t break through against Hancock pitcher Travis Hulsey.
The burly right-hander kept the Herky batsmen on their heels for most of the night as the Tigers, hosting the tournament at Heine Meine Field in Lemay, claimed a 4-0 victory for the district title. It was the same result as a year ago between the two clubs who were the top seeds in the five-team district.
While Hulsey held Herculaneum hitless through five innings, his team provided all the run support he needed in a four-run third inning. Herky starting pitcher Drake Byers yielded a leadoff double to Isiah Wilson, followed by Ryan Mills’ RBI single. Then Byers hit Hulsey with a pitch and was relieved by Jordan Duncan. Tiger cleanup hitter Jamel Warren greeted Duncan with a two-run double and soon after scored on a throwing error.
Gavin Turley led off the sixth inning with Herky’s first hit off Hulsey, then Byers and Jason Harden each singled to load the bases. But Hulsey struck out Cole Myers and Bryce Hall, both freshmen, to end the threat. The Blackcats loaded the bases again in the seventh on two walks sandwiched around a Greg Rose bloop double, but could not push across a run.
“I thought it was, for the most part, a really well played high school baseball game,” said Herculaneum head coach Zac Bone, whose club finished 12-6-1 in his eighth season as head coach. “Somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose. Hats off to (Hancock), I thought they played really well. Travis Hulsey was really, really good. His command of the fastball was excellent and he threw a ton of strikes. He was throwing both halves of the plate.”
The Blackcats lose six players to graduation in seniors Byers, Turley, Tyler Cunningham, Zack Phillips, Donovan Schaeffer and Trenton Tinsley.
“When they started out here, it was a couple really rough years,” Bone said of his senior group. “We won 11 games combined in their first two years. Now we’ve won 26 in their last two and they were a huge part of that – kids who really believed in what we’re doing; very, very high character young men. We’re very, very thankful for what they’ve done for the program. I think the future’s bright for Herculaneum baseball.”
Gordon Bess provided information for this story.