Sports
Vianney Baseball Falls Short Against Undefeated SLUH
Vianney loses to Saint Louis University High, 4-3, in a high-powered Metro Catholic Conference matchup.
If there was one game that the Vianney Golden Griffins wanted to win this season, it was Wednesday night’s Metro Catholic Conference game against undefeated Saint Louis University High.
The Golden Griffins (20-8, 4-4 MCC) gave the Jr. Billikens (20-0, 6-0 MCC) everything they could handle as SLUH stayed unbeaten with a 4-3 win at Vianney.
“I thought that SLUH had more quality at-bats than we did today,” Vianney head coach Scott Brown said. “We had 16 balls that were either strikeouts or they were hit up into the air. So, really, only five of their outs they really had to work on. But I thought that SLUH worked the count and really battled to get the job done.”
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SLUH starting pitcher Mitch Klug was solid in seven innings pitched as he gave up just three runs on six hits. Klug also retired five batters via strikeout for his sixth win of the 2011 season. He’s currently 6-0 overall with a 2.33 ERA.
“Mitch was really awesome,” SLUH head coach Steven Nicollerat said. “He settled down after the first two hitters and he had great command after that. He changed speeds really well and moved the ball around the plate. What more could we have asked from him today.”
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One of the more frustrating points throughout the game for Brown was the fact that the Golden Griffins missed several opportunities to score runs.
“Three of our runs came off of home runs and I thought that our guys had the attitude of trying to jack something out of the park as opposed to getting on base and then moving over,” Brown said.
“SLUH made the plays when they needed to and they had the quality at bats when they needed them and we just didn’t today.”
Vianney starting pitcher Michael Dillon took the loss as he gave up four runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings pitched. Dillon also retired three batters via strikeout in his first loss of the 2011 season. He’s currently 4-1 overall with a 2.90 ERA.
“I really didn’t execute my pitches today,” Dillon said. “I thought I did alright, but I didn’t really have my best stuff today.”
The Golden Griffins will be back in action this Saturday as they host Roosevelt at noon.
“We’ve got to learn from this game because now we’re getting down to do or die,” Brown said. “You can’t be sitting there after the game thinking that we should have done something different, because now you’re going to go home for the summer.”