Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team clinches second straight Southeast Conference title with 9-4 win versus GMLOK Thursday
The Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team continued an extremely busy week of action in Spring Valley Thursday versus the Bulldogs of GMLOK in a Southeast Conference matchup, and senior infielder and pitcher Mac Nelson knocked in three runs and scored three more, plus he threw a complete game on the mound, striking out 10 Bulldog hitters with no walks as the Athletics clinched back-to-back conference titles with a 9-4 win.
The Athletics pushed three runs across the plate in the top of the first inning for a quick 3-0 lead, and after GMLOK countered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning, Lyle/Pacelli tallied with a run of their own in the top of the second for a 4-1 lead. The Bulldogs answered with one in the second and two in the third to knot the game at 4 apiece, but Nelson and the LP defense held GMLOK scoreless the rest of the way, while the Athletics scored one in the fifth to break the tie, and they then added four huge insurance runs in the sixth to account for the 9-4 score.
Nelson wound up going 2 for 3 with a home run, three RBI’s and three runs scored to lead the Athletics offensively, while leadoff hitter Landon Meyer went 2 for 3 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored. Center fielder Hunter VaDeer was 2 for 3 with three runs scored, Isaac Nelsen went 2 for 3 with a pair of runs knocked in, Trey Anderson was 1 for 4 with a run scored, and cleanup hitter Jake Truckenmiller picked up an RBI in the win. For GMLOK, Cole Kruegel was 2 for 4 out of the leadoff spot with a double and two runs scored, Connor Munson went 1 for 4 with two RBI’s and a run scored, and Parker Johnson belted two doubles in three trips to the plate with an RBI and a run scored.
With the Athletics playing seven games in six days, Nelson gave a heavily-taxed pitching staff a boost by throwing all seven innings for the win, giving up the four Bulldog runs, three earned, on seven hits, fanning 10 and walking none.
With the win, Lyle/Pacelli is now 15-1 overall and 11-1 in the Southeast Conference, and the Athletics continue their busy week today (Friday) in Hayfield versus the Vikings in a matchup of two top-ten teams in the state in Class A, with the Athletics currently ranked second and the Vikings ranked sixth. The two Section 1A rivals will square off at 4:30 p.m., and you’ll hear the game on AM 1480 KAUS, with the pre-game show airing at 4:20 p.m.