By Bud Milroy
Sports Correspondent
The Toppers stumbled out of the gate as they opened Metro Classic Conference play last week, falling to St. Thomas More on Tuesday, 5-4, in Milwaukee, and then 12-2 at home.
“We played pretty well at St. Thomas More” said Head Coach Tom O’Connell. “We had a tough call go against us in the bottom of the seventh that led to the winning run scoring.”
Tegan Miles made his first start of the season and went the distance for Catholic Central but suffered the loss. Miles yielded five hits and struck out six hitters.
Unfortunately, he issued seven walks, one of which scored in the final inning.
“Tegan (Miles) pitched very well and had two strikes on a hitter with two outs in the seventh before that hitter singled and their rally started. He had a lot of ball movement, which was hard to control at times but overall it was a very strong outing,” O’Connell said.
Austin Hayes (single and a double) and Jobe Wagner (two singles) led the Toppers’ offense with two hits each, and both scored a run. Nolan Girard’s double in the sixth inning drove in two runs. Ben Heiligenthal also recorded a double.
St. Thomas More scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to steal the win. A controversial base hit down the third base line with the tying and winning runs on base proved to be the difference.
The two teams met again at Beaumont Thursday and that contest was all St. Thomas More. The Cavaliers pounded out 14 hits and took advantage of five free passes and two Catholic Central errors en route to the victory.
“We just had a bad day,” said O’Connell. “There were physical and mental errors as well as some poor approaches at the plate.”
St. Thomas More scored four times in the second inning to take a five-run lead, and it put the game away with three runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth.
The Toppers scored a run in the fifth on Jacob Webley’s base hit and another in the sixth when Girard doubled and ultimately came around to score on an error.
Hayes was the losing pitcher for Catholic Central.
County foes corral Toppers
The Toppers’ struggles continued Friday night when they fell to Waterford 11-1 in the Racine County Showcase at Beaumont Field.
Dylan Malecki starred on the mound for Waterford in going the distance, allowing just three hits, no walks and striking out 13.
Cal Sanfelippo took the loss for Catholic Central.
On Saturday, the Toppers squared off against Union Grove in the showcase at Burlington High School. Miles again was locked up in a pitcher’s duel, this time with Union Grove’s Riley Placke.
The Toppers broke the scoreless tie with a run in the top of the fifth inning. Miles reached on a one-out single and came around to score on Hayes’ two-out double.
But Union Grove responded with four runs in their half of the inning. The big hit came from Zac Melendrez, whose bases-loaded double just inside the left-field line scored all three runners.
Miles again turned in a decent performance, allowing just five hits while recording four strikeouts.
“We played much better today,” said O’Connell. “We could have used a little bigger gust of wind on that double down the line but that’s baseball. I’ll take this overall performance from these kids any day.”
The Toppers (1-6 overall, 0-2 MCC) are scheduled to play a pair of conference games this week against Greendale Martin Luther (3-3 overall, 2-0 MCC).
Thursday’s game is scheduled for Beaumont Field at 4:30 p.m.
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