skip navigation

Wildcats Defeat Rival Eagles at League Park

By Brendan DeVenney '17, 04/29/17, 12:00PM EDT

Share

Saint Ignatius Baseball has experienced an up and down year thus far, having entered Friday’s contest with a 5-9 record. However, Friday’s 8-6 win over the Wildcats’ archrival, the St. Edward Eagles, may be just the surge of momentum and confidence moving forward this season.

The Wildcats came ready to play and win at League Park in the historic Hough neighborhood of Cleveland. League Park was the Cleveland Indians home field from 1901 to 1946, and recently renovated with a gorgeous turf field.

The Wildcats jumped on Eagles’ starter Logan Wiggenhorn early and made it a short day for the senior righty.

Saint Ignatius jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Following back-to-back leadoff singles by Seth Warren and Mark Geraci, the Wildcats got on the board first thanks to a St. Edward throwing error that allowed Warren to score from third. Then, following a Jack Siefert base hit, Ryan Jacobs hit a sac fly to center field that allowed Geraci to come home and make it 2-0.

The following inning, the Wildcats extended their lead to 5-0. With Christian Ramos on second and Daniel Alexander at first, Wiggenhorn allowed a RBI single to Seth Warren, his second hit of the day, that allowed Ramos and Alexander to both score. The next at bat, Geraci scored again and that was the day for Wiggenhorn. Derek Tackett then came in for relief work.

Still in the second inning, Warren scored his second run of the day in the matter of two innings after Connor Adams smacked an RBI line drive to center. The Wildcats were rolling and giving starting pitcher Tommy Grosel some nice insurance out on the mound.

Grosel started out hot, sitting down the first three batters in the first inning, and then working out of a jam in the second inning. Friday marked Grosel’s third start of the year, and Grosel was seeking his first win.

The third inning stung just a little, however. St. Edward fought back and made it a one run game. Spencer Marinac hit home Riley Baumbick to get the Eagles on the board with two outs. Freshman Mac Wainwright singled home Jacob Lozinski. And then Danny McGuire roped an RBI double to right that cleared the bases and cut the Wildcats lead to 5-4 heading to the fourth.

The fourth inning was not any kinder to the Wildcats pitching. Grosel emerged from the first out of the home half before exiting the ballgame. Starting pitcher and St. Bonaventure recruit Braydon Nelson then took the mound to try and stop the Eagles’ comeback. This was Nelson’s first relief appearance of the season. His last two relief appearances came in the 2016 postseason. One of those appearances came in the District Title game vs. St. Edward, in which he earned the save in the Wildcat’ 3-1 win over St. Edward.

But the Eagles hit fairly well in the fourth to take a 6-5 lead. Baumbick hit an RBI triple down the left field line to score Anthony Lavisky and tie the game. Then in the next at bat, off a crazy bouncing ball in the infield, Baumbick scored to give the Eagles their first lead on a Jacob Lozinski groundout. It was 6-5 St. Edward heading to the fifth.

The fifth turned out to be a nice little inning for the Wildcats. Jacobs walked and Chonko and Ramos drew hit by pitches to load the bases. Patient at the plate, Alexander drew a one-out, bases loaded walk to tie the ballgame up at 6 apiece.

After a 1-2-3 fifth inning by Nelson, the Wildcats grabbed their second lead of the game. After a one-out triple by Jack Siefert that carried all the way to the wall in left, Jacobs tripled over the center fielder’s head to bring courtesy runner Joe Gutbrod home and make it 7-6 Wildcats.

After the Wildcats tacked on another run in the seventh inning, the Eagles had little rally left in them to try and tie or win. Dan Adler came on in the seventh and had to get just one out to nail the save and secure the win for the Wildcats. Saint Ignatius escaped the now 6-13 Eagles by a score of 8-6 to get win number six and move to 6-9 on the year.

It was a great day offensively for the Wildcats, who really brought the bats to life. Seth Warren went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI’s. Mark Geraci went 2-for-5. Connor Adams went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Jack Siefert went 2-for-4 with a triple. Ryan Jacobs went 1-for-2, 2 RBI’s, including the big RBI triple. The Wildcats hit all over St. Edward’s pitching and was one of the highlights in the Wildcats’ biggest win of the season.

As for the pitching of Saint Ignatius, it’s easy to look past the six runs they gave up. Tommy Grosel finished going 3 ⅓ with 3 strikeouts, giving up 6 hits and 5 runs. Braydon Nelson came on and helped the Wildcats get the win. He also went 3 ⅓ striking out 2 and giving up just 1 hit and 1 run. It was a great day out on the mound for Wildcat pitching.

“It was a well played team game. We came together and got the job done together,” winning pitcher Braydon Nelson said. “People came in and got the job done when it mattered. Everyone contributed, and we got the timely plays when we needed them.”

The Wildcats now get the weekend off before playing a recently scheduled game on Monday versus Canton Central Catholic at Baldwin Wallace University at 5:00. The Wildcats’ doubleheader on Saturday down at Olentangy Liberty was cancelled due to weather in the Columbus area.