St. Patrick picked a good time to play their best defensive game of the season.
The Saints were paired with Augusta on Monday to start off the 39th District baseball tournament semifinals, a team they had defeated 13-0 just six days ago for their first win of the season.
They may not have scored as much, but the result stayed the same as the Saints knocked off the Panthers 7-0 to advance to Tuesday’s championship game.
Jack Gallenstein pitched a three-hitter and struck out nine while Cesar Briseno drove in three runs to secure the Saints second victory of the season, improving to 2-14 on the year.
“We’re starting to finally come around with our bats. We have a lot of new guys and a lot of guys first time playing. Towards the end of the year I’ve seen us come together and no better time than the district tournament,” Saints coach Ryan Swolsky said.
Briseno got them going early with a two-run double in the first, driving home Arturo Lopez and Gallenstein.
They’d add two more in the second as Caleb Poczatek drove in two with a single, the first four Saints runs of the day coming with two outs.
“Cesar’s been hitting it really well. Jack is definitely our leader and I thought Caleb and Arturo did really well at the plate today,” Swolsky said.
Paco Franco got things done with his speed in the third as he stole second, advanced to third on an error and later scored on a passed ball to make it 5-0 Saints.
Seventh grader Will Kelsch settled down from there for Augusta, pitching the next two frames scoreless and keeping the Panthers within striking distance.
“Will did a great job. Seventh grader. We took him up to the max pitches and took him out. His future is bright,” Panthers coach Jerry Zeigler said.
The Panthers best chance to put runs on the board came in the fourth when they loaded the bases with one out. But Gallenstein picked a runner off at third and then struck Seth Fouts out to end the threat, leaving the Panthers scoreless.
The Saints added two more in the sixth as Gallenstein and Briseno collected RBIs, making it 7-0. Kelsch would be replaced for Stephen Cordle in the inning, who struck out Eli Frye to end any more damage in the frame as the Saints left the bases loaded.
Augusta loaded the bases up one more time in the seventh in a last ditch effort. But a 1-2-3 double play hit by Joseph Mains ended the contest, Gallenstein picking up a grounder and firing to Briseno at the plate before he tossed the final out of the game over to first to end it.
“Defensively that was one of our best games. That is a huge win for us and we’ll need to continue that tomorrow and on into the regional tournament,” Swolsky said.
The Saints collected nine hits in the contest and played a fairly clean game in the field with just one error.
“I thought my defense did a really good job behind me and bailed me out a lot of times,” Gallenstein said. “I felt good and was pretty locked in most of the day. It’s my senior year so just giving it all I got.”
Augusta’s troubles came with four errors and seven walks and a hit by pitch. Outside of some control issues, Kelsch handled himself well for a seventh grader in a postseason setting, allowing nine hits and seven runs, four of them earned with five strikeouts.
The Panthers season ends at 2-10, both wins on the season coming over Silver Grove. They won’t have to worry about much turnover, Stephen Cordle being the lone senior on the team that had six middle schoolers on it.
“We’re very young and we’ve been working on fundamentals. We’re basically a grade school team. I thought tonight was our best defensive game we just couldn’t come up with any timely hits,” Zeigler said.
SAINTS 7, PANTHERS 0
AUGUSTA—000-000-0—0-3-4
SAINT PATRICK—221-002-x—7-9-1
2B — (SP) C. Briseno
3B — (A) Mains
RBI — (SP) C. Briseno 3, Poczatek 2, Gallenstein
R — (SP) Lopez 2, Gallenstein, A. Briseno, Muehlbauer, Franco, Poczatek
LOB — (A) 7 (SP) 10
WP — Gallenstein. LP — Kelsch.
Records: Augusta 2-10, St. Patrick 2-14
