St. Bede beats Morrison to snap 4-game skid

PERU – The St. Bede baseball team has come close a few times in the past two weeks.

The Bruins lost to Kewanee by a combined four runs Monday and Thursday and fell by two runs to Putnam County on Saturday.

St. Bede got over the hump Friday.

The Bruins used a five-run first inning, a solid two-out approach and a strong outing by Ryan Brady to beat Morrison, 9-2, in a Three Rivers Conference crossover, snapping a four-game skid.

“It’s good to get back in the win column,” St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. “We’ve competed recently. We just haven’t made all the plays we need to. Our plate approach is slowly getting better. We’ve got to do a better job running the bases, but you always have to celebrate winning. I’m happy for the guys to get into the win column and hopefully we can get a little momentum going into the regional.”

The win was St. Bede’s first since a 19-6 win over Rockridge on April 16.

“It’s about time,” St. Bede senior Dan Dugosh said. “It’s been a couple games since we’ve got one, so it’s good to come here and get one on a Friday.”

After Morrison scored on an RBI double by Mason Dykstra in the top of the first, the Bruins responded in their half of the inning.

Dugosh led off with a double and later tied the game on a groundout by Luke Story.

Following a popout, Jayce Ladzinski was hit by a pitch and Callan Hueneburg walked to load the bases.

Colin Nave then cleared the bases with a double to left field.

“With the bases loaded I thought Colin Nave did a good job staying back and drove the baseball and that was the key to that big inning,” Booker said.

Ryan Brady followed with an RBI single to give the Bruins a 5-1 lead after one inning.

“We hit the ball early,” Dugosh said. “That was a big part of us getting a lot of momentum after they scored that first run.”

The Bruins added a run in the fourth as Morrison committed three consecutive errors, with the third allowing Dugosh to score.

“Errors are killing us,” Morrison coach Josh Robbins said. “We’re not playing good defense. We were throwing the ball around a little bit too much. That’s been our biggest problem.”

St. Bede tacked on three more in the fifth when Ryan Brady hit a two-out RBI single and, after an infield single by Tyreke Fortney, Dugosh delivered a two-run double.

The Bruins scored seven of their nine runs with two outs.

“We had timely hitting,” said Dugosh, who was 2 for 4 with two doubles, two runs and two RBIs in the leadoff spot. “We’re taking good at-bats and good swings, getting the ball oppo and hitting our gaps.”

Ryan Brady earned the win for the Bruins (5-12) as he allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out nine batters and walking none in 6 1/3 innings.

“He threw strikes,” Booker said. “Going into the seventh inning he was under 70 pitches. We talked about competitive misses. There’s a lot of times this year that our pitching staff has missed badly. Today, he was on the plate all day. His offspeed needs some work, but he’s going to be OK. I was very happy with his efficiency.”

Landon Jackson struck out the last two batters.

Morrison (1-8) added a run in the seventh as Payton Decker doubled to deep center field to score Troy Baker, who reached on an error.

‘It’s been our M.O. to leave a lot of runners on base,” Robbins said. “We’re just making weak contact. We’re have to fix that. That’s the No. 1 thing right now is fix the weak contact leaving runners in scoring position.”

Brenden Martin was the losing pitcher, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.