Griffins Bust Game Open in Sixth, Open Conference Play with Win Over Marquette

GLEN CARBON – Besides giving up a leadoff walk, the Father McGivney Catholic High School baseball team had pretty much a perfect first inning Tuesday afternoon against Gateway Metro Conference rivals Marquette Catholic.

Aiden Willis started on the bump for the Griffins, and after a four-pitch leadoff walk, he retired the next three batters via flyout, strikeout, and popout.

His offense got to work quickly.

Omar Avalos ripped a leadoff triple to deep center field before Scott Phelps came up and doubled to bring him home. Ben Sink reached on an error to move Phelps to third and then Isaac Wendler did a job, grounding out to get the RBI and make it 2-0.

McGivney’s offense went stagnant from innings two through five but woke back up to put four more on the board in the sixth, going on to win by a score of 6-1.

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It was McGivney’s home-opener after going 2-2 to open the season in a tournament down in Memphis last week.

“This was really important for us to get out of the box, we threw a lot of balls in Memphis when we were down there, and so for Aiden to get on the mound and pump strikes, I thought he did a phenomenal job today,” McGivney head coach Chris Erwin said.

“A kid got one in the air, and it got out, but otherwise he controlled the zone, controlled what they were doing, and controlled the offensive game on their side, so I was really happy with it.”

Willis pitched a one-two-three inning in the second. His only blemish was a solo homerun off the bat of Eli Rodgers in the top of the fourth that cut McGivney’s lead to 2-1.

That homer was the only hit Willis allowed through five innings of work. He walked three batters and struck out four.

Grabbing the quick 2-0 lead certainly helped the starting pitcher’s confidence.

“I think it settled everybody in,” Erwin said. “New season, at home, good crowd, and against a conference rival, you know, I think everybody’s excited to get things going. So, the first two runs were fantastic, I really thought that was going to kind of ignite us for the whole game. It didn’t, but it did settle Aiden down. I thought Aiden did a good job.”

And eventually, the Griffins’ offense got back to work.

In the bottom of the sixth, with one out, Jacoby Danco reached on an error to get things going and would get to second on a passed ball. That brought up Paddy Martin, whose RBI double made it 3-1. After Ty Menossi struck out, it brought up Avalos and the top of McGivney’s order.

Avalos walked and Martin stole third to put runners on the corners for Phelps. Martin scored on a wild pitch which also got Avalos to second. Phelps brought him home again on a line drive RBI double to make it 5-1. Phelps then stole third and later scored on an error to get to the final score of 6-1.

“That’s McGivney baseball, being aggressive on the bases, putting some line drives together, not necessarily just double, double, double, but just putting good swings on the bat, and I think they kind of got comfortable later in the game,” Erwin said.

“I wish it would have happened earlier, I felt like the bookends, the first inning and last inning, hitting wise, offensively, were very good. So yeah, I was happy with the last inning.”

But Marquette wasn’t quite out of gas yet.

With one out, Ethan Dempsey and Chris Haskins had back-to-back singles to put two men on base in the top of the seventh. Keller Jacobs then struck out before Jack Rea singled to center field, loading the bases with two outs.

The game would end on the base paths.

Dempsey grew to a huge leadoff on third base, and while attempting to steal home, pitcher Jack Rolves threw it to Danco, the third baseman, who fired it home to the catcher, Grant Reed, who made the tag to end the game.

“Definitely not a 6-1 game, and I told the boys if we clean a couple things up in that last inning, it’s still maybe a 3-1 game,” Marquette head coach John Siener said.

“I took the ownership of that last one,” he said of the game-ending play. “I was so worried about the guys at first, he was getting such a big lead, and I saw their first baseman creeping behind him, I lost sight of the third baseman in the peripheral of my eye. I should’ve known better, that’s on me.”

“Like I told the guys, I said this will be one of the better teams they face all year,” Siener added. “They’re one of the top teams in the area, and you hung with them, stayed with them, and put a scare into them. So, I was proud of the boys.”

Jacobs started on the mound for the Explorers and worked the first five innings, striking out six and walking one, giving up six hits. Logan Sherman came in to try and make the save but ended up allowing two hits in the sixth when the Griffins scored four runs, all unearned.

“Keller, man, what a job,” Siener said of his ace. “We had a conversation the other day, and I asked him, ‘Do you want [the start]?’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, I want it.’ And this is now two great outings in a row. He pitched against Alton and held them 2-1, pitched today and held them 2-1, I can’t ask anything else from him. He did a phenomenal job.”

The Explorers fall to 2-3 on the season while McGivney climbs to 3-2.

It was McGivney’s eighth straight win over its fiercest conference rivals, holding a now 10-3 record against the Explorers all time.

“This is always an emotional game,” Erwin said. “It’s our conference rival, a rival Catholic school, for the most part we’re not far apart. They want to beat us; we want to beat them. It’s just so odd that it happens so early.”

“You’re still trying to find yourself as a team, both teams probably are, and I know we are still trying to find ourselves a little bit, what our identity is, and then you throw this big magnitude of a game in.”

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