St. Mary's

survives

Cathedral

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

MANKATO -- The Sleepy Eye St. Mary's baseball team has had many heroes on its way to a 21-1 record and No. 1 ranking in Class 1A.

Friday night it was Chad Armbruster's turn.

The junior right-hander spun a three-hitter -- striking out 13 -- and delivered a clutch two-out RBI single in the top of the eighth inning as the Knights defeated New Ulm Cathedral 3-2 in Section 2-1A winner's bracket action at Mankato East's Wolverton Field.

St. Mary's (22-1) now stands alone undefeated in the section and will await the loser's bracket survivor Thursday, 5 p.m., at Mankato's Franklin Rogers Park for the section title. The Greyhounds (15-7) will face Mankato Loyola Tuesday, 5 p.m., at Franklin Rogbers Park for the right to take on the Knights.

"Thsi team has been doing this all year," St. Mary's coach Bruce Woitas said. "Chad did a heck of a job for us, and got out of some tough situations. We missed a lot of opportunities to score today but we stayed with it, kept moving runners over, and eventually we got that key hit from Chad in the eighth inning. These guys just battle. ... It's a credit to them, and I'm very proud of them."

"I didn't think our kids were very sharp to start (the game)," Hound coach Bob Weier said. "We made some mistakes to give (St. Mary's) some early runs, but we sharpened up over the course of the game and played the last half really tough. We had some opportunities but ... that's the game of baseball. Sometimes you cash in, sometimes you don't."

The two team combined to strand 23 runners over the eight innings.

It was Cathedral's first error of the game -- in the top of the second -- that gave St. Mary's an early 1-0 edge. Dan Schwartz led off the frame with a walk, was sacrificed to second, moved to third on a fly out, and scored when Joey Schugel's relay throw got past third baseman Kyle Helget and into the Hounds' dugout. The Knights moved out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth as Adam Fischer reached on a bloop single, was once again sacrificed over, and eventually scored on a passed ball. St. Mary's had a sacrifice in every inning but the first.

"Usually when you (sacrifice runners over), good things are bound to happen," Woitas said. "We were successful in every sacrifice attempt we had, but we really didn't get that key hit until the eighth when Chad came through. You know, playing a good team like Cathedral, that one run is probably going to make the difference."

The Hounds' best opportunity to score in the early frames came in the second, when Cathedral had runners on first and third with one out. Corey Schnobrich laid down what looked to be a perfect squeeze bunt to score Mitch Palmer, but an outstanding lunging move by Armbruster got the ball to catcher Joe Heiderscheidt for the out. Cathedral did not threaten again until the fifth.

"(Armbruster) made a nice play on it," Weier said of the squeeze attempt. "It takes a good play by him, and the catcher's got to hold on to the ball. It was a bam-bam play and they made it; that's how you win ballgames."

Cathedral left-hander Jacob Mertz was doing a good job of wriggling out of jams as well, leaving the bases loaded in both the third and fifth innings. He would be tagged with the loss, but held the top-ranked team in the state to three runs on seven hits through seven-plus innings.

"Didn't he pitch a dandy?" Weier said of Mertz. "(St. Mary's) got their lead-off hitter on almost every inning, and he would pitch out of it. He threw the right pitches, got them to fly out or ground out. I thought we dealt with the pressure very well today."

It was a St. Mary's mistake in the bottom of the fifth that allowed Cathedral to knot the game at 2-all. Armbruster seemed to get out of the inning with a strike out, but the ball got away and Heiderscheidt's throw to first was dropped by Fischer. That left runners on first and third with two out, and Brandon Reinarts delivered a triple to the gap in right to clear the bases.

"You have to give (Cathedral) credit because they took advantage of some of our mistakes," Woitas said. "Chad was out of that (fifth) inning, didn't make the throw to first, and they got two runs out of it."

After the Knights left runners on second and third in the top of the seventh, the Greyhounds looked to steal the win in the bottom half as two St. Mary's errors left Schugel on third with just one out. Woitas then had Armbruster intentionally walk Dusty Wilfahrt and Reinarts to load the bases, and his pitcher came through with two huge strike outs to quash the threat and send the game into extra innings.

"I think that was the most logical thing to do was to put Wilfahrt and Reinarts on (base)," Woitas said. "Chad went at the (Nos.) 4 and 5 hitters, and did a super job. He stepped it up when he had to, gutted it out, and got us out of that jam."

"(Armbruster) got awfully tough on us when he had to," Weier said. "He really fired the ball, reared back and said 'here it comes, try to hit it.'"

Steve Eckstein opened the top of the eighth with a single and, after another sacrifice and a walk to Andy Konz, Armbruster came through with a solid single to left to put St. Mary's on top for good. Palmer wase hit by a pitch to open the bottom half, but was stranded at second as Armbruster struck out Corey Schnobrich and John Knisley to end the game.

"We gave it the old college try, and I'm proud of our kids," Weier said. "I thought we played very, very well in some very tough situations -- we just didn't come through like we've been doing lately. We're going to practice Monday, come back on Tuesday (against Loyola), and see if can't get another crack at (St. Mary's) Thursday."

SESM 010 100 01--3 8 4

CHS 000 020 00--2 3 3

WP-Armbruster, LP-Mertz. 2B-Armbruster (SM). 3B-Reinarts (C).