Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team sweeps Southeast Conference doubleheader Friday

The Lyle/Pacelli Athletics baseball team was looking to keep their record unblemished in a unique doubleheader in Spring Grove Friday against the host Lions in Game 1, and versus the Cougars of Mabel-Canton in Game 2 as both games had been postponed due to the weather in early April.  In Game 1, Hunter VaDeer fanned 14 Lion batters, and third baseman Jack Klingfus knocked in a pair of runs in a 4-2 Athletics win, and in the nightcap, Dane Schara and Grady Meyer combined to fire a two-hit shutout in a 5-0 LP victory.

In the Spring Grove matchup, the Lions led 1-0 through four innings of play when the Athletics offense broke through with three runs in the top of the fifth for a 3-1 lead, and after Spring Grove answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to cut the LP lead to 3-2, the Athletics pushed across an insurance run in the top of the sixth on their way to the win.

Klingfus wound up going 2 for 3 in the game for Lyle/Pacelli with a pair of RBI’s, Logyn Brooks was also 2 for 3 in the game with an RBI and a run scored, Landon Meyer was 1 for 2 with a double and two runs scored, Isaac Nelsen picked up an RBI, and Isaac Small was 1 for 4.

The Athletics picked up yet another strong performance from VaDeer on the mound as the junior righthander pitched into the seventh inning and picked up the win, as he gave up the two Spring Grove runs, both earned,  on three hits, striking out 14 and walking six.  Dane Schara came on in the seventh inning and earned the save, giving up no runs on one hit, and he did not strike out or walk a batter as the Athletics totaled four runs, six hits, no errors and 10 men left on base, while Spring Grove totaled two runs, four hits, no errors and seven men left on base.

In the Game 2 matchup with Mabel-Canton, the Athletics jumped out to a 3-0 lead with two runs in the top of the first and one in the second, and that would prove to be all the LP pitching staff would need, as coming off pickiing up a save in Game 1, Dane Schara got the start in Game 2 and went six strong innings, giving up no runs on two hits, fanning 13 and walking only one batter, and Grady Meyer then came in to pitch a scoreless seventh inning, striking out one and walking none.  The Athletics added single runs in the fifth and seventh innings to account for the 5-0 final.

Landon Meyer helped to lead the way at the plate for Lyle/Pacelli as he went 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and two runs scored, Hunter VaDeer was 2 for 4 with a run knocked in and another scored, Logyn Brooks was 1 for 4 with an RBI, Isaac Nelsen went 2 for 4 in the game with a run scored, Dane Schara helped his own cause on the mound by going 1 for 3 with an RBI, and Jack Klingfus also rapped out a hit in the win as the Athletics totaled five runs, nine hits, no errors and five men left on base, while Mabel-Canton totaled no runs, two hits, one error and four men left on base.

With the pair of wins Friday, the Athletics are now 8-0 on the season, and Lyle/Pacelli will kick off an extremely busy week ahead Monday as they play host to Martin Luther at Marcusen Park, with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m.  Lyle/Pacelli is then scheduled to host Schaeffer Academy Wednesday, Mabel-Canton Thursday, they will then head to Alden-Conger/Glenville Emmons for a doubleheader Friday before finishing out the week on Saturday by hosting an invitational with Blooming Prairie and Wabasha-Kellogg, with Game 1 versus Blooming Prairie coming your way on AM 1480 KAUS, with the pregame show getting underway at 9:45 a.m. that morning, and first pitch at 10:00 a.m.