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Logan King steps in to bat for St. Cloud in the second inning, His RBI single cut scored the Bulldogs first run, but the Dogs eventually lost to Tohopekaliga, 3-2, Monday. PHOTO/J. DANIEL PEARSON
Austin Montalvo raced home from third on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Tohopekaliga Tigers a 3-2 baseball victory over St. Cloud Monday night. The win lifted the Tigers to 7-1 on the season, by far its best season start yet.
“We did not hit the ball very well, we made some mistakes on the base paths and we failed to make some routine plays in the field. But at the end of the day, we did enough to win the game,” Tigers Coach Nikko Martell said. “Honestly, I think a lot of what happened tonight can be chalked up to being rusty after returning from spring break. We got a few practices with limited participation, but you can’t match the intensity of regular practices and games.”
The Tigers’ start includes a 4-1 mark against county opposition.
“This team and this program is still a work in progress,” their fifth-year coach said. “We continue to improve year-to-year and I’m proud of the effort these guys continue to show. But we know we have a lot of room for improvement.”
Tohopekaliga plays Olympia on Tuesday and Gateway on Thursday in preparation for next week’s Orange Belt Conference tournament.
The Tigers jumped out to 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning Monday when Hudson Moberly and Jose Montalvo walked with the bases loaded to force in two runs. St. Cloud (3-5) relief pitcher Aiden Peguero retired Alex Santiago on a pop out to first and then got out of the inning when centerfielder Ayden Hampton made a sensational diving catch of Austin Montalvo’s line drive, and then doubled off Moberly trying to return to second base to end the inning.
“Big play on their part,” Martell said. “If that ball is dropped or gets by centerfield, it’s a big inning for us. Instead they turn it into a double play and it keeps them in the game.”
St. Cloud tied the game on an RBI single from Logan King in the second and adding a run in the third on a THS throwing error. The Bulldogs had runners on first and second and one out in the third but Tyler Sheffield recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat. In the fourth, St. Cloud loaded the bases with one out, and a hit batter, a single and double steal gave the Bulldogs runner on second and third with one out in the fifth inning, but didn’t score either inning.
Jose Montalvo led off with the bottom of the sixth with a double but was picked off on a failed bunt attempt. With two outs, the Tigers notched a walk and infield single to load the bases, before a wild pitch scored Montalvo from third with the winning run.
In the top of the seventh, Ethen Sanborn reached on an infield single and with one out, Roman Lopez ripped a hard single to the right-centerfield gap. But Sanborn was thrown out at third on the play and Quevedo retired King on a fly out to right to end the game.
“Walks and base running mistakes certainly cost us big time,” St. Cloud coach David Blackmore said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them (Tohopekaliga), they are a very sound and talented team. But when you come back from spring break and don’t have quality at-bats and you don’t score when you have runners on base you can’t win. We left 12 guys on base, messed up a squeeze play when a freshman hitter missed a sign. Although Quevedo picked up the win in relief, Sheffield (8 Ks in 4 1/3 innings) earned additional praise from Martell.
“Tyler knows he’s not the hardest thrower but he is so good at locating his pitches,” Martell said. “He just gives us a great effort every time he is on the mound. He certainly pitched well enough to get a win.”
