Mehlville Struggles Against Lindbergh

Hitting struggles countered solid pitching by Mehlville’s Kurt McGuire as the Panthers fell to the Flyers 4-1 Tuesday at Lindbergh.

In the first of a two-game series, Lindbergh got off to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a single RBI by Jesse Maness. Kendall Helbert drove in another run before ending the inning.

Lindbergh scored again in the third thanks to Jack Manley, who drove in the Flyers’ last two runs. Matt Feldt also went three-for-three with two doubles and a single.

Mehlville struggled at the plate, going three-up, three-down in the 3rd through 5th innings.

“We had a really good starting pitching performance by Jay Heller," Lindbergh coach Darin Scott said. "He went out there and kept them off balance, did a really nice job of throwing first-pitch strikes.” 

The Panthers showed a spark late in the sixth when Austin Simokaitis had a huge triple to break the nine straight outs. McGuire hit a single to knock Simokaitis in for the Panthers’ first run.

“We’re not quitting and that’s the good thing, we’re showing some life late, but it’s almost too late,” Mehlville coach Tim Ode said. “We keep shooting ourselves in the foot and you can’t give a good team four runs.”

McGuire finished strong in the bottom of the sixth with two strikeouts in three batters. He had five total for the night.

Mehlville improved after meeting Lindbergh for the first time this season as the Panthers fell 15-2 in the Mehlville/Lindbergh Tournament Championship in March.

“We’re out to equalize things a little bit—definitely wanted to show that that wasn’t who we really were and that was definitely the oddball game . . . .  that’s the only game we’ve not been in the entire game,” Ode said.

Mehlville faces the Flyers again Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. at home.