Baseball: Determined Waldron, Marquette top St. Bede for regional crown

OTTAWA – After yet another masterful performance on the mound Saturday, Marquette senior Taylor Waldron admitted perhaps jokingly that he took greater pleasure in the RBI hit he had in the Crusaders’ 1A regional championship game against St. Bede than his performance on the mound.

However, there’s no question which was more important or more impressive.

Waldron fired off a seven-inning complete game, surrendering only two hits and three baserunners while striking out 13 to lead the Cru to a 4-0 victory over the Bruins at Masinelli Field.

His single in the fourth inning was a crucial one for sure, widening the Marquette lead to just 2-0 at the time, but that was more than enough the way he was throwing. He finished the game with just 86 pitches thrown – 63 of them for strikes – to propel the Crusaders to a 28-2 record and spot in the Harvest Christian Sectional semifinals.

That contest, slated for 5 p.m. Thursday at Judson University in Elgin, will be against Chicago Hope Academy, the Winnetka North Shore Country Day Regional winner with a 7-1 win over the host school.

“I’ll take the hit because it got our guys going a little bit,” Waldron said with a smile. “The guys really made plays today in the field and at bat … This regional means a lot because it gets us one step closer to … I can’t say where that is … closer to where we want to be. We have some unfinished business to take care of.”

Taking a tough loss on the bump was Alex Ankiewicz, who gave up just five hits in four innings before yielding to Brendan Pillion for the final two frames. That those hits were timely and that their team managed just a second-inning single by John Brady and a fourth-inning hit by Luke Tunnel contributed to the Bruins finishing at 21-8.

“Tip your cap to that Waldron kid, because he really threw a good game,” St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. “He controlled the pace of the game and had our number today. Against him, we tried to take a two-strike approach and choke up, but not only was his fastball a little bit overwhelming to some of our batters, but his off-speed, his slider, gave us fits.

“We didn’t throw it that bad today. Our three pitchers who threw in the tournament competed all year and I’ll take that anytime. We just have to get a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger and good things will still happen for us … but Marquette’s pitching and defense gave us a tough time today.”

In the home first, Alec Novotney drew a leadoff walk, went to second on Logan Nelson’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Tommy Durdan’s double to left-center field.

Three hits in the fourth added two runs, starting with a Sam Mitre double. Waldron fought off a high inside pitch for an RBI single to right and Keaton Davis doubled him in.

The Cru added an unearned run in the fifth on a Novotney hit-by-pitch, Nelson’s bunt single and Durdan’s grounder that was erred.

Meanwhile, the only other baserunner Waldron allowed came on his error on a Seth Ferrari bunt in the first inning. He fanned the side just once, in the first, but struck out two in every other inning but the sixth.

Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said his boys basketball Crusaders’ loss as the No. 1 seed at the Midland Regional to the No. 10 seeded Bruins on February 22 was a factor in his team’s focused approach.

“Taylor’s pitched in a lot of these big games and he comes through. He was in command and just dealt one helluva game … I’m so happy for our seniors, especially the ones who played basketball,” said Hopkins. “There aren’t many times you get to right a wrong, but that wasn’t going to happen today. Taylor wasn’t going to let that happen. No one was … They wanted this because they beat us in basketball and we just weren’t gonna let that happen today.

“St. Bede’s has a good ballclub, they’ve had a good season, they’re young and they’re gonna be a force here in the next couple years, but our kids were determined to go our a winner here in their last game on this field and did what they had to do to make that happen.”