Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team uses 9-run 5th inning to down St. Clair 10-0
In a game you heard on AM 1480 KAUS, myaustinminnesota.com and the I Heart Radio and radio.com apps, the Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team kicked off a stretch of seven games in six days at Marcusen Park Monday versus the St. Clair Cyclones in a non-conference tilt, and a nine-run deluge in the bottom of the fifth inning lifted the Athletics to a 10-0 win.
After a threat by St. Clair to score in the top of the first was turned away, Lyle/Pacelli took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning when leadoff hitter Landon Meyer singled, stole second and scored when cleanup hitter Jake Truckenmiller belted a two-out, RBI double to deep left field. The game then turned into a pitcher’s duel between LP’s Jack Klingfus and St. Clair’s Ethan Preston, as the Athletics moved runners to second base in both the second and fourth innings with no one out, but three successive fly ball outs in each case ended potential run-scoring opprotunities. Cyclones shortstop Coleton Prange singled to start the second inning, but he was then caught off the first base bag and retired in a 1-3-4-6 rundown, and St. Clair’s best chance to score in the game came to nothing in the top of the fourth inning as with one out, pitcher Ethan Preston singled, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch, while cleanup hitter Lucas Loeffler drew a walk and stole second. Klingfus was able to get Prange to ground out to shortstop Mac Nelson for the second out, and he escaped the jam by then striking out Parker Osmonson looking for the third out to keep the score at 1-0.
The Athletics then broke the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth when Klingfus and leftfielder Trey Anderson, the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in the order both singled, Landon Meyer walked, and Klingfus then scored when a balk was called on Preston to make the score 2-0. Mac Nelson then belted a two-run triple to score Anderson and Meyer to make the score 4-0, Hunter VaDeer then followed with an RBI single to boost LP’s lead to 5-0, and after VaDeer stole second, Truckenmiller tripled for an RBI to increase the lead to 6-0. That was the end for Preston, who was lifted in favor of Jakob Vanberkom, who promptly gave up another triple, this one off the bat of Isaac Nelsen to increase the Athletics lead to 7-0. Nelsen then scored when the relay throw to third sailed over the head of Preston to make the score 8-0, and second baseman Dane Schara was then hit by a pitch and stole second. Catcher Logyn Brooks followed with an infield single, Klingfus then came up again for LP as the Athletics batted around, and he drew a walk to load the bases. Anderson and Meyer then followed with a pair of sacrifice flys to end the game via the 10-run rule as the Athletics wound up sending 12 men to the plate and belting out seven hits in the 9-run inning.
Truckenmiller wound up going 2 for 2 for the game with a double, a triple, two RBI’s and a run scored, Landon Meyer was 1 for 2 with an RBI and two runs scored, Mac Nelson was 1 for 3 with his two RBI triple and a run scored, Hunter VaDeer went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored, Isaac Nelsen went 1 for 3 with an RBI triple and a run scored, and Logyn Brooks, Jack Klingfus and Trey Anderson all added hits for the Athletics, wtih Anderson going 1 for 2 with an RBI.
In his first start of the season, Klingfus earned the win on the mound for Lyle/Pacelli as he gave up no runs on five hits in five innings of work, striking out six and walking one.
With the win, the Athletics are now 11-1 on the season, and Lyle/Pacelli’s busy week continues today (Tuesday) as the Athletics host Glenville-Emmons/Alden-Conger in a Southeast Conference doubleheader, with the first game scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
