St. Bede rallies in 6th for 5-3 TCC win over Marquette

OTTAWA – The game of baseball sometimes has a way of giving a player a chance at redemption.

St. Bede sophomore leadoff batter Geno Dinges came up to bat in the sixth inning of Monday’s Tri-County Conference game against Marquette at Masinelli Field after a tough plate appearance the inning before.

“I had the bunt sign from [St. Bede] coach [Bill] Booker, and I felt like I had a great pitch to bunt but just didn’t execute like I needed to,” said Dinges, whose fifth-inning bunt turned into a lineout double play. “It was frustrating. I was just hoping, somehow, I’d get another opportunity to come through.”

He did, and he did.

With the bases loaded, two outs and a 0-2 count in a tied contest, Dinges punched a two-run single to right field to give the Bruins the lead in an eventual 5-3 victory.

“It was an inside pitch, and I got jammed a little, but was able to push it through the infield,” Dinges said. “Walking to the plate in that spot, I just wanted to battle and put together a good at-bat. It was nice to get a second chance today and nice to be able to come through for my team.”

St. Bede, which lost to the Crusaders 11-0 in five innings Thursday, improved to 16-4 overall and 7-3 in TCC play. Marquette, which has dropped two straight games, fell to 17-3 and 9-1.

Alec Tomsha (2⅓ IP, 1 H, 1 BB) picked up the win in relief of Gino Ferrari (4⅔ IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K).

“We pitched pretty well, got a couple timely hits, and played a clean game defensively. Against Marquette that is what you have to do to win,” Booker said. “Last week we didn’t have those things happen against them and the final scored showed it.

“Having Gino, a lefty who can gas it up a little bit, start and then bringing Alec, a righty who doesn’t throw as hard, was the look we hoped would work and it did.”

Marquette led 1-0 after two on a sacrifice fly by Grant Dose. St. Bede took the lead in the third on a two-run single by Gus Burr.

The hosts regained the advantage in the fourth as Sam Mitre doubled, Keaton Davis followed with a single and an error allowed Mitre to score. Courtesy runner Connor Baker then came around to touch home after three wild pitches to make it 3-2.

St. Bede’s sixth started with a walk to Maks Baker, a fielding error, Alan Spencer being hit by a pitch and Aidan Mullane working a bases-loaded walk before Dinges’ clutch hit.

Marquette had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh after a one-out double off the bat of Alec Novotney, but Tomsha was able to retire the next two batters on fly balls to center.

Dinges finished with two of the Bruins’ five hits, while Davis had two of the Crusaders’ five hits.

Griffin Dobberstein (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K) suffered the loss with Dose (1 IP, 2 K) finishing up.

“Give St. Bede all the credit, they executed when they needed to at the plate and made a couple of really nice plays defensively to keep us off base,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “Their two pitchers did a really good job of keeping us off balance for the most part.

“We just have to get through this and get back on it tomorrow. It would be ideal if we had a practice [Tuesday] to work on some things, freshen up on some stuff, but we have a game here against Putnam County, who is playing good baseball right now. We just have to come here [Tuesday] ready to play solid baseball.”

St. Bede also returns to league play Tuesday, traveling to play Henry-Senachwine in Henry.