St. Francis baseball on losing end of pitchers’ duel
There wasn’t much time for the St. Francis High baseball team to savor a dramatic walk-off victory against Chaminade on Tuesday.
Just one day later on Wednesday, the Golden Knights faced the Eagles in the second of three Mission League games in four days.
In a pitchers’ duel that featured two strong performances on the mound and yielded just five total hits, St. Francis couldn’t take advantage of its scoring opportunities in a 2-0 loss to host Chaminade.
Tuesday, the Golden Knights (3-9, 3-2 in league) enjoyed a thrilling 2-1 victory in eight innings against the Eagles (8-4-1, 3-3-1).
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“I talked to our guys before the game and I said a day after a walk-off win like that you can go flat and wait for someone else to step up and do the job, and that’s what happened today,” St. Francis Coach Aaron Dorlarque said. “We came out flat and no one stepped up today except our pitcher and he really gave us a chance to win the game.
“But this is on me, because I could kind of see it before the game and it was up to me to to get the guys emotionally tapped into the game where they can compete at the highest level. They were good today, but no great.”
St. Francis junior Hayden Byrnes got the start on the bump and gave his team seven solid innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
However, Byrnes’ performance was overshadowed by the pitching of Chaminade junior starter Patrick Collins. In six innings, the right-hander used a deceptive change-up and an effective fastball to keep the Golden Knights in check. Collins allowed one hit, struck out six and walked three.
The hurler had to leave the game after six innings after reaching the mandatory CIF pitch count of 110.
“Patrick came out of the Harvard-Westlake game last week with a no-hitter because his pitch count got up,” Chaminade Coach Frank Mutz said. “And he threw five no-hit innings today for a total of 11 straight until they got the hit in the sixth inning.
“The thing about him is that he throws so many change-ups that his outings are not really that stressful on his arm.”
The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Andy Sain walked, stole second and scored on a single to right-center field by Cole Reibenspies.
Chaminade made it 2-0 in the sixth after Reibenspies walked, stole second and was plated on a single off the screen in right-center field by Reece Weinberg.
St. Francis had its share of scoring chances, getting runners into scoring position in the first, fourth, fifth and six innings. The Golden Knights’ best opportunity came in the sixth when they loaded the bases with no outs after Brandon Lewis singled, Doyle Kane reached on an infield error and Nike Khoury was hit by a pitch. But Collins induced two infield flyouts and recorded a strikeout to end the threat.
The Golden Knights also had two runners thrown out at first base from the outfield.
“We had some great pitching,” Dorlarque said. “We just didn’t execute when we had to and they did.”
Twitter: @jefftsports
