Baseball: St. Bede jumps on Putnam County early in Tri-County Conference win

PERU – The St. Bede baseball team jumped on Putnam County in the first inning and added another big inning in the fourth.

Meanwhile, pitcher Gino Ferrari and the Bruins’ defense held the Panthers in check as St. Bede cruised to a 14-0, five-inning victory in a Tri-County Conference game Tuesday.

“I thought we attacked the zone pretty well, Gino threw a good game, and defensively we played well except for the first play of the game,” St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. “We played a pretty complete game. We had better plate approaches. We hit the ball with a little bit of authority today. Good things will happen when you do that.

“I’m happy for the kids, but we have a long way to go to get ready for the regional that’s coming up very soon.”

After Ferrari allowed a double and a walk to start the game, he ended the inning with a caught stealing, popout and lineout to send the Bruins to the plate.

St. Bede’s offensively immediately started to make things happen.

A hard line drive by leadoff batter Ryan Slingsby was missed at third base, and he took second on a wild pitch before scoring on an RBI single to right field by Gus Burr.

No. 3 hitter Nathan Husser then launched the ball over the center field fence for a two run home run – his second in the past four games and his third on the season, which is tied for the area lead.

“I’ve spent my time in the weight room, and I’ve spent time eating,” Husser said. “I’ve done that part of it. Now all it is is seeing the ball onto the barrel and letting my body do the work.”

After an out, Luke Tunnell got the Bruins (16-11, 7-5 TCC) going again with a single.

Following back-to-back walks, Carson Riva hit the ball to right field to bring in two runs. Riva was thrown out running to second, but that allowed Aidan Mullane to score the sixth run of the inning.

“We hit the ball real well,” Husser said. “One through nine we were able to battle and put the barrel on the ball, and if you put the barrel on the ball, good things will happen.

“We came out with energy, and we were seeing the ball onto the barrel. When you bat through the order in the first, you know you’re doing something right.”

Ferrari was perfect in the second and third innings before a walk and an error put two runners on to start the fourth.

However, Ferrari retired the final six batters of the game, including his fourth strikeout to end the game.

“I thought he mixed his pitches pretty well,” Booker said. “One inning we had to get on him about attacking the zone a little bit better, but after that he was pretty efficient. He threw four innings and had 65 pitches or something like that, so we were happy with his efficiency.”

The Bruins ended the game by batting around again in the fourth inning.

Husser ripped an RBI double, while Burr, Ferrari and Mullane had RBI singles, and Tunnell hit a sacrifice fly.

Johnathan Stunkel had the only hit, and Miles Main took the loss on the mound for the Panthers (6-14, 5-7), who committed three errors.

“I give them credit. They were putting the ball in play. The leadoff hit a ball right at us, and we don’t catch it. I think that E5 kind of set the table,” PC coach Chris Newsome said. “Their kid threw well. Nothing overpowering but enough mix to miss some barrels. Other than Johnathan’s hard-hit ball to lead off the game, I don’t know if we had another one.

“Knowing it could be a potential matchup in the postseason, it was pretty disappointing to come out to lay an egg like that. But the beauty of baseball is we get another shot at it. We get to turn the page. Hopefully we can come out and show our true colors on Thursday.”