Crusaders look like same old selves in sweep of Serena

OTTAWA – It’s been a long time to wait for the Marquette Academy baseball team to finally take a step, a full step, toward defending the 2019 Class 1A state championship they won in Peoria on June 1, 2019. In fact, it had been exactly 707 days since it defeated Waterloo Gibault, 14-5, for the school’s first team state title.

And it looked like it hadn’t missed a beat.

With only three innings of a rained-out opener against Hiawatha 10 days ago under their belts and coming off a week’s worth of quarantine to boot, the Crusaders jumped on a Serena club that had already played 12 games with a 28-run barrage in their doubleheader at Masinelli Field on Saturday, sweeping the twinbill 16-1 and 12-2 in four- and five-inning contests, respectively.

No. 9 hitter Jake Thomas clubbed three hits in as many at bats and drove in five runs to lead the support for winning pitcher Aiden Thompson and reliever Grant Waldron, who combined for a two-hitter in the first game. The Cru then put up a nine-run first frame that included two-run doubles by both Brady Ewers and Nick Melvin on their way to the Game 2 win with Luke Couch, Logan Nelson and Shane Reynolds on the bump.

Though MA coach Todd Hopkins was as usual more inclined to find the flaws in the Cru’s performance, there’s no denying his squad showed up aggressive at both the plate and on the mound.

“As for looking like a defending state champion, you can put an end to that talk right now. We did okay. At least we got on the field, it was a nice Saturday, we got to play two and got a lot of guys in.”

—  Maquette Academy coach Todd Hopkins

“Aiden threw pretty well, all our pitchers did and we hit the ball a little bit, but we made a bunch of mistakes,” said Hopkins. “The pitchers walked too many and the hitters had six, seven strikeouts, that’s way too many. There shouldn’t be any strikeouts. You should put the bat on the ball … so we have to clean all that up. Sure we haven’t practiced a lot, but they’re things we should know and that’s frustrating.

“As for looking like a defending state champion, you can put an end to that talk right now. We did okay. At least we got on the field, it was a nice Saturday, we got to play two and got a lot of guys in.”

Serena, who through last Wednesday had played nine games in 10 days, grabbed the lead for starter Ivan Stafford in the opener when Thompson hit Brody Faivre with a pitch and Leo Brennan singled to right. The throw trying to get Faivre at third went awry, allowing him to score. But Ivan Stafford had the only other Husker hit in the fourth.

But Marquette by then went in front, in its home first getting a run-scoring infield single by Couch and a two-run single by Beau Ewers to start things. Later, Hayden McKenna was hit by a pitch with the bags loaded and Thomas slapped with a two-run single to center.

The hosts added four in the second, highlighted by RBI hits by Brady Ewers and Thomas, who also added run-scoring hits in the six-run third against Hudson Stafford to help put it away.

The second game went much the same way. Three walks by Cam Figgins and an error helped MA with its nine spot in the first, capped by an RBI two-bagger by Couch. In the home fourth, an RBI fielders choice by Ethan Price, a run-scoring triple by Tom Durdan and a sacrifice fly by Garrett Geiger created a 12-0 edge.

But the re-focused Huskers battled. It loaded the bases with no outs against Couch in the second on walks to Brennan and Hudson Stafford around a double by Dylan Cartwright. However, the Cru senior right-hander got a pop-up and two strikeouts to end the threat. The first two reached in the third against Nelson, but he got out of the jam, as well.

The Huskers finally broke through with two runs in the fifth off Reynolds on a walk to Conner Holdiman, a single by Carson Baker and, after an RBI groundout by Brennan, Cartwright’s second double plated another.

“The second game was much better, other than that first inning when we couldn’t get ourselves off the field. We did have some opportunities but weren’t able to capitalize.”

—  Serena coach Chad Baker

“The second game was much better, other than that first inning when we couldn’t get ourselves off the field,” said Serena coach Chad Baker. “We did have some opportunities but weren’t able to capitalize.

“When you’re outmatched and you’re playing a team trying to defend a state championship, you have to be almost mistake-free. In the first game, it was brutal. In the second, there were a few little mistakes that cost us pretty much all the runs they scored, because (MA) wasn’t gonna stop hitting. When they hit it, they hit it hard and they know how to sit back on off-speed pitches. They’re tough to fool. They’re a really good baseball team.”