Pirate offense breaks out against SV

Coming into the annual rivalry clash with St. Vincent, the Perryville baseball team hadn’t scored yet on the season.
In two games this season, the Pirates had been shut out by Park Hills Central and Ste. Genevieve.
The Pirates had no such problem against the Indians.
Perryville jumped out to a big lead early, but held on for a 11-7 victory on March 26 in the Perryville City Park.
The Pirates jumped out to a quick lead as the team scored seven runs in the first three innings. There was only two innings that the Pirates did not scratch across a run as Perryville had 13 hits on the night.
Perryville scored all five runs in the first inning with two outs when Dalton Fritsche and Waylon Huber drove in runs with singles and Adam Green had an RBI double.
St. Vincent countered with two runs in the fourth inning as Perryville got a little sloppy with the ball as a run scored on a failed pick-off attempt that went awry and a passed ball.
Perryville scored twice more in the fifth and sixth inning and went up 11-2 going into the bottom of the sixth.
That’s when St. Vincent made it interesting. The Indians scored five times in the inning Four of the first hit batters in the inning produced hits. Christian Schaaf and Jacob Seabaugh had RBI doubles to move within 11-4. Another run scored on an error, and the final run in the inning scored on a bases-loaded walk to pull the Indians within 11-7.
“It was one of those things where it seemed like we were just cruising along and all the sudden you look up and they were within four,” Perryville coach Donald O’Keefe said. “I was thinking what just happened.”
Lohan Hoehn started the game for the Pirates and went 5 2/3 innings, giving up 9 hits with seven runs (three earned) with seven strikeouts. Troy O’Keefe came in relief and went the remaining 1 1/3 inning and allowed no hits or runs with a pair of strikeouts.
On offense, Barrett Wheeler led the way with three hits, while Troy O’Keefe, Grant Smith, and Adam Green had two hits apiece. Huber drove in two runs, while O’Keefe and Green scored three runs apiece.
For St. Vincent, Seabaugh went 3 innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Nick Buchheit came in relief and gave up four runs (two earned) with three strikeouts.

On offense, the Indians were led by Simon Barber who had three hits and got on base four times. Schaaf had two hits and three RBI, while Andrew Hotop had two hits.
Pirates roll
The Pirates continued with two more games that week as they fell to Sparta, Ill. 10-6 on March 27 and defeated Oak Ridge 11-0 on March 28.
“We let ourselves down against Sparta,” O’Keefe said. “But overall this week I thought we played really well.
O’Keefe said it will be normal for his team to play three, if not four games, in a week this season.
“It’s a short season,” he said. “The playoffs start on May 10, so it’s like a month-and-a-half and you have to go into the postseason.”
The offense was humming for the Pirates last week as they scored 28 runs in three games and 31 hits.
“I know we scored six against Sparta, but I counted that we probably had two full innings of outs on hard hit balls,” he said. “They were balls that were hit right to somebody or they made a play and you just tip your cap to them.”
Perryville is trying to improve on an eight win season from last season. Those eight wins were an improvement over the previous two seasons combined (2021 and 2022) that saw them win a total of seven games.
“We were on the wrong side of a lot of those games, sometimes losing by eight or nine runs,” O’Keefe said.
The team has improved so much that other teams have taken notice. In four of the games this season, teams have thrown their aces. Park Hills Central and Ste. Genevieve both threw their best pitchers in shutout victories, which is much different than in the past.
“Some of those teams in the past would not have thrown their number ones against us,” he said. “Which is not the case this year. As teams take notice of us, we are going to have to adjust.”