Baseball | St. Laurence bounces back from trouncing with wins downstate

By Steve Millar
Correspondent

After the type of disastrous inning St. Laurence does not endure often, let alone at home, the Vikings did not go down without a fight.

Lincoln-Way Central stunned the Vikings by scoring 10 runs in the top of the first inning of a non-conference showdown on April 12.

St. Laurence answered with four runs of its own in the bottom of the inning, but could not keep the comeback going and fell, 16-6, to the Knights in six innings in Burbank.

“We put up some really good at-bats early in the game,” St. Laurence junior Matt Carrano said. “We were trying to be tough outs.

“Giving up 10 runs in the first inning was tough on us, but we fought back. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but I still think we put up a pretty good fight.”

Carrano had a pair of singles, Daniel Coyle produced a double and two RBIs and Ryan Seddon homered for St. Laurence.

The Vikings (12-4) bounced back Saturday with a successful trip downstate to Morton. St. Laurence beat the host Potters, 12-5, and Normal U-High, 14-2.

In the loss to Lincoln-Way Central (9-5), the Knights piled up seven hits and drew three walks in the 10-run first.

“Give them credit,” St. Laurence coach Pete Lotus said. “They really hit the ball. They came out and had a good plan against Kannen (Mosher).

“Kannen is a good pitcher and it was just one of those days where he didn’t hit spots. Against a good hitting team on a day like this, they’re going to make you pay. It snowballed on him.”

The Vikings battled back for four runs in the bottom of the first with Johnny Wendling and Coyle producing RBI doubles and Carrano an RBI single.

“After giving up 10, we could have obviously put our heads down,” Lotus said. “We came back and scored four that inning and I thought we had some really good at-bats, especially from young guys like Matt Carrano and Dan Coyle. That was great to see. It was a really good response.”

The Vikings got a solo home run from Seddon in the second and tacked on a run in the third when Mike Carrano and Matt Carrano had back-to-back singles before Mike scored on a groundout from Coyle.

That was all the offense St. Laurence could muster.

“I felt like if we could put some pressure on them in those middle innings and get in their bullpen, who knows what could have happened?” Lotus said. “We put up a couple zeroes in a row defensively (in the fourth and fifth innings) and didn’t take advantage of it by scoring some more runs.”

The continued success of the Carrano brothers was a bright spot. Mike hit fifth and Matt sixth in the Vikings’ lineup against the Knights.

“I kind of got my groove back,” Matt Carrano said. “I had been struggling. It’s always fun playing with your brother, especially hitting behind him in the lineup. I’m able to hit him in when he gets on. Things like that are a lot of fun.”

In Saturday’s win over Morton, Jameson Martin led the way, going 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Seddon went 2-for-4 with two runs, while Mike Carrano, Corey Les and Evan Les each had two RBIs.

Joe Olson struck out seven over three innings in relief, allowing one earned run on one hit to earn the win.

Martin had an even bigger performance against U-High as he homered, doubled and drove in six runs, finishing 3-for-4. Luke Stulga went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Evan Les drove in three runs.

Rodney Lester allowed two earned runs over four innings to earn the victory.