CHARLESTON — After beating Meadow Heights in a challenging game to open play in the Class 2, District 3 tournament, St. Vincent coach Corey Sauer was feeling cautiously optimistic about the fifth-seeded Indians’ second-round matchup against Chaffee on May 19.
The top-seeded Red Devils (21-3) had a different outcome in mind. Chaffee took a 2-run lead in the bottom of the first, then added 1 each in the fifth and sixth innings to beat St. Vincent (7-14) 4-0 at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.
“We had plenty of good energy,” Sauer said. “That’s kind of something we were lacking most of the season, just the energy showing up to the park from the starters and from the bench as a whole, team-wide. We put the ball in play all day. We just couldn’t buy a hit. We struck out once and walked once, but we couldn’t get anything going. We only had two hits all day.”
Sophomore lefthander Jordan Essner earned the win on the mound first for Chaffee after holding the Indians scoreless on 2 hits over 7 innings, striking out 1 and walking 1. “
They threw a soft-tossing leftie at us,” Sauer said. “That just kept our hitters off balance all day, obviously. You’re not going to win any baseball games when you get two hits.”
St. Vincent starter Jake Seabuagh found himself in a bit of a bind right away, as the Red Devils opened the game with a leadoff double from Easton Fowler.
Shortly thereafter, Chaffee scored 2 runs on two sacrifice flies, one from Rolen Reischman and the other from Connor Berry.
“Jake battled,” Sauer said. “He tweaked a muscle early on, in the first or second inning and just pushed through it, battled through it. He gave us five and two-thirds. He’s a dude, man. He’s an awesome pitcher. He has been a mainstay for us on the pitching staff for the last couple of years and he showed it. Velocity was down a little bit, didn’t have his best stuff, but he got us through as best he could.”
Seabaugh took the loss after giving up 4 runs, 3 earned, on 5 hits, striking out 4 and walking 5 in 5 2/3 innings.
Andrew Schumer finished out the game, as Kamden Little hit a line drive to right fielder Tyler Henneman for the final out in the bottom of the sixth.
“We couldn’t get anything started on the offensive side,” Sauer said. “That was basically the story. We played a clean game for the most part. Defensively, we missed a missed a couple cutoff guys and let them have some extra bases that led to a few runs. They’ve just had our number. Chaffee is that team for me, that, for whatever reason, I can’t figure out how to beat them. They’re always good. They’re always sound. We always play them tough. Game in and game out, we play them tight. We just have not gotten over that hump yet, and it’s unfortunate.” '
Seabaugh and Gus Unterreiner each had 1 hit for St. Vincent, while Fowler led Chaffee, finishing 2-for-3 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.
“I felt going into the season, we had plenty of pitching, a good defense, and a good enough offense to make it work,” Sauer said. “It’s just that we couldn’t put the pieces together game by game to make it work. I mean, 7 and 14 is not our story. I think I’ve said that a thousand times, but the team is way, way more talented than the 7-14 record, but we just couldn’t pull it together.”
Looking ahead to next season, Sauer said he is focused on rebuilding the pitching staff, as they are losing a significant number of innings from graduating seniors. The offense, however should have a strong core returning. Sauer said he is confident in the talent of the team and is looking forward to next season, hoping to build on the lessons learned this year.
“Obviously, we’re losing a lot on the pitching side,” Sauer said. “We’re losing well over 60, 70 innings on the mound that we’re going to have to replace. Offensively, we’ll run out mostly guys that have had varsity time. We’ve got talent still. I should have some good young talent coming in to pair with what we have. Our junior group played quite a bit — they’re going to be seniors next year. Both of my sophomores started, and they started last year as freshmen. We’ve got a good core group. We’re just going to figure out some things on the pitching side and figure out a way to make the offense work.
“Pitching is going to be my main focus going into next year. We’ve got to figure out, ‘Who are the guys that are going to get us through five and six innings?’” Despite losing key players to graduation and having some questions, Sauer said he feels good about next season, especially with the support he knows he’ll receive.
“Our senior group has been awesome,” Sauer said. “I coach at St. Vincent for a reason, and that’s because we have great kids and great parents. We have a lot of support. I’m looking forward to next season. I hated the way this ended. It shouldn’t have ended that way because we had more talent than what our record is, but that’s the game of baseball for you. Sometimes things don’t go your way. And here we are, second round exit to Chaffee again. We’re going to build on it and try to come back better next year.
“I’m confident we can have a good group. We’ve got talent coming up.”
