Published: May 02, 2008 01:06 am            

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Tigers' late outburst sinks Jeff

Jeffersonville hung with perhaps the best team in Louisville for five innings, but St. Xavier scored four times in the sixth inning and eventually downed the Red Devils, 8-5.

Jeff, which went 13-3 in April, falls to 0-1 in the new month with the loss, but Red Devil coach Al Rabe was far from disappointed with the effort.

“We played hard. We got after it and we swung the bats a little bitter,” Rabe said. “(St. X) is a good team and when you play good teams, you learn things about your team. We did okay. I’m not disappointed with the way we played. You hate to lose, but when you play good (teams), you’re going to lose some.”

St. Xavier jumped on top early, scoring two runs in the first inning, but Jeff retaliated with single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 3-2.

The Devils scored their first run on back-to-back doubles by Sam Burke and Tony Moore to open the second inning. Jeff squandered a great opportunity to score even more runs, though. Aaron Hargett followed Moore’s double with a single and after Hargett stole second, the Devils had runners on second and third with nobody out.

Tiger start Brent Sweeney then struck out Hunter Tipton, got Brian Mendenhall to pop up to the catcher and John Jacobs to ground out to the first baseman.

Ryan Pierce homered to lead off the third inning to tie the score at 2-2, then Tipton, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored the go-ahead run in the fourth on a Mendenhall double.

The Tigers tied the score at 3-3 in the fifth against of Jeff starter Mack Schulz, who fell to 0-1. Kal Scheler opened the inning with a single and eventually scored on a Justin Ambley double with two outs. Schulze gave up six runs on 11 hits in five and one-third innings.

Jeff’s undoing was the sixth inning. Nate Grayson opened with a single. That was followed by bunt singles by Eric Bourke and Justin Merimee. With runners on first and second, Merimee’s bunt was fielded by Burke – the Devils’ catcher – but Merimee beat the throw. Grayson scored all the way from second and Cody Poole’s throw home went by Burke, allowing Bourke to score the go-ahead run.. After an RBI single by Scheler, John Jacobs replaced Schulze on the mound.

Kevin Brinkman then reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on an Ambley double.

“They made us make some mistakes,” Rabe said. “We didn’t make mistakes, they forced us into some errors, and that’s a mark of a good team.”

Jeff did have nine hits, including six extra-base hits, off of St. Xavier pitching. Eight of the nine Red Devil batters reached base at least once during the game. Moore led the way, going 2-for-4 with a double and a home run. He scored once and had two RBI and had a sure extra-base hit robbed from him at the fence by Grayson in center field.

“We’re still tinkering with (the lineup),” Rabe said. “(The hitting) was good tonight. We see some people coming out of (slumps), and some people are still struggling, but overall it was much better (tonight).”

Rabe evaluated his team at the unofficial mid-point of the season. While he believes his team still has a long way to go to reach his expectations, he admits that the 2008 season has been a success thus far.

“My expectations are high,” he said. “Not that we wouldn’t lose. We knew we would lose some games. I think we should be better than what we’re playing, but there’s nothing wrong with being 13-4 with the caliber of people that we play. (Being) 13-4 is a pretty good accomplishment.”



ST. XAVIER 200 013 1-8 12 0

JEFFERSONVILLE 011 100 2-5 9 2

W – Just (3-1). L – Schulz (0-1). 2B – Ambley (X), Burke (J), Moore (J), Mendenhall (J), Poole (J). HR – Cline (X), Bourke (X), Pierce (J), Moore (J).

        

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