Baseball: St. Bede’s Landon Jackson sticks to his plan, holds off Red Devils

St. Bede coach Bill Booker was glad Landon Jackson’s plan was better than his.

Jackson got himself in a pickle in the seventh inning when he entered the game in relief of starter Seth Ferrari. He allowed two hits before walking No. 9 hitter Joe Schrader with two outs to load the bases to bring Hall’s most feared hitter, Mac Resetich, to the plate.

Maybe not quite how the Bruins drew it up, but Jackson wiggled out of trouble by inducing Resetich to roll into a fielder’s choice to short to end the game and preserve a 7-6 Bruins victory in a Three Rivers East game Thursday at the Academy.

“I like it when kids have their own plans,” Booker said with a laugh. “That means they’re winning the game, but that didn’t do it there. I don’t ever want to face [Resetich].”

Jackson stuck to his plan against Resetich.

“Just trying to spot up and most of the time, he’s going to make contact, so just trust your defense to make the play,” Jackson said.

“I like it when kid’s have their own plans. That means they’re winning the game, but that didn’t do it there. I don’t ever want to face (Resetich).”

—  Bill Booker

The Bruins right-hander said it felt especially good to get Resetich out.

“Little bit of revenge, I guess. He’s torched us all year. Felt good to be able to get a win here,” he said.

The fact that was the last time the two rivals will meet in conference play was not lost on Jackson. The Bruins will be leaving the Three Rivers to return to the Tri-County next year.

“We’re moving out of the conference. This is the last time we get to play Hall, our biggest rival. It’s just nice to get the win,” he said. “Especially, going back to other sports, they’ve had our number this whole year. It feels good to get back at ‘em.

“There’s never a time we play we don’t want to beat them by a lot. Just a rivalry.”

The Red Devils (4-1, 1-1 TRAC East), who beat the Bruins 6-1 on Monday, took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second with two runs on two hits, including two-run single by Resetich.

An RBI hit by John Brady got the Bruins on the board in the bottom of the second that drove in Luke Tunnell from second.

Things quickly unraveled for Hall in the bottom of the third inning as the Bruins struck gold with six runs on three hits and three errors.

Tunnell drove in the tying run after an error scored the first run of the inning.

Evan Entrican pulled an RBI hit inside the first base bag and came home after stealing third on a throwing error.

John Brady delivered an RBI single and came home on a squeeze by his twin, Ryan, to put the Bruins up 7-3.

“It just compounded itself. Started with one that kind of bit us in the hands and then we started throwing the ball around a little bit, extra bases,” Hall coach Tom Keegan said. “It’s a perfect game that is coached and played by imperfect people. That was an imperfect inning for sure.”

Hall catcher Kyler Lapp had a two-run double in the fourth to bring the Red Devils within 7-5. Joel Koch started the rally with a leadoff double.

Schrader had a leadoff double of his own in the top of the sixth and scored on an RBI hit to right by Ashton Pecher to make it 7-6.

The Red Devils mounted what they hoped to be a winning rally in the seventh. Dom Galetti stroked a one-out single off Jackson and Payton Dye followed with a two-out hit to left field.

That brought up Schrader, who coaxed a walk.

“We wanted No. 9 and then he fell behind,” Booker said. “I thought he got squeezed. I thought the third pitch in that series was a strike. It should have been 2-2. We walked the wrong guy.”

Keegan said the Red Devils couldn’t have asked for a better situation with Resetich coming to the plate.

“Right situation with the right guy. Just didn’t work out for us,” he said. “Really just a hard time getting around that third inning. That’s when it started to go sideways on us defensively. Couldn’t get out of our own way and they put pressure on us going small ball.

“Credit to them. They did the job and beat us.”

Ferrari (2-0) earned the win, scattering nine hits while striking out four.

St. Bede (5-3, 1-1) scored seven runs on seven hits with Tunnell, Entrican and John Brady collecting two each.

Pecher led the Red Devils with three hits and Resetich, Dye and Galetti had two apiece.