Legion Baseball: St. Charles Holds Off Late Rally From St. Peters

Jacob Bothe had the biggest hit of the night and then he made the biggest play of the night.

Bothe’s two-run double to the left field fence in the fourth inning broke open a one-run game. But it was the catcher’s tag of counterpart Austin Holtgrieve at the plate in the eighth inning that helped the St. Charles American Legion Post 312 baseball team preserve a 7-5 win over St. Peters Post 313 Tuesday at Blanchette Park.

Bothe admitted that he didn’t see where Holtgrieve’s feet were when he tagged Holtgrieve’s midsection. But because he was straddling the plate, Bothe was pretty certain he got the out despite the uproar from the St. Peters faithful in attendance.

“It was a bang-bang play,” St. Peters manager Marty Clements said. “Somebody’s going to be mad and somebody’s going to be happy. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way.

“It changed the inning. That’s what good teams do. They made the play. The guy made a good throw and give them credit for making a good play.”

“The guy” who made the throw was St. Charles shortstop Zack Jones, who took the relay from centerfielder Matt Glanzner and gunned it toward home. The throw came after Blake Hetelle had ripped one over Glanzner’s head with two runners aboard.

David Gambino led off the St. Peters fourth with a double and then scored on Tyler Davis’ single. That was followed by Holtgrieve’s base knock before Hetelle’s double.

St. Charles (18-6) scored first in the second inning after Connor Brett led off with a base hit and scored on Alexander Rael’s RBI single.

They took a 2-0 lead in the third when Jones’ double brought in Mike Eimer, who had singled.

After St. Peters (6-4) scored in the top of the fourth when Hetelle drew a bases-loaded walk, Post 312 loaded the bags in the bottom of the inning for Bothe.

After fouling off several pitches, Bothe smashed Ian Gump’s 3-2 pitch to deep left field, short-hopping the fence to score two. It would have been a bases-clearing double, but Eimer was cut down at the plate to end the inning.

“Kudos to Jacob Bothe for that big hit he had,” St. Charles manager Kurt Denningmann said, adding that he told Bothe to be aggressive during the at-bat but not to swing at anything “over his hands.”

Like most teenagers, Bothe ignored the advice of an adult and swung at a pair of high pitches, fouling them both off, before finally getting a ball he could drive. Bothe said he had “been struggling at the plate lately” so he hit some balls off a tee before the game to find his stroke.

“I guess it worked,” he said. “We won.”

One night after Timmy Miller tossed a perfect game, Post 313 used four different pitchers after starter Eric Keling left after two innings – and five strikeouts – with arm soreness. St. Peters could also not buy a break at the plate, hitting into three double plays despite hitting the ball hard. Two of the double plays were shots right back to the pitcher and two other outs were 1-3 putouts.

“We’ve had that problem in half our games,” Clements said. “They’re not routine plays; they’re hard-hit balls. We can’t seem to get a ball past the pitcher. Sometimes that’s the way baseball is. Hopefully someday we’ll start getting those to go our way.”

Luke Mohr led off the St. Peters fifth with a single and, two errors later, scored to make it a 5-2 game.

St. Charles expanded the lead in the sixth when Michael Pundmann led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Bothe singled, Post 312 pulled off a double steal and Bothe then scored on Eimer’s RBI double.

Hetelle led off the seventh with a single and, following a pair of walks, scored on a Nick Pautler sacrifice fly to right. With two runners on and just one out, a double play ended the rally.

Following the two runs in the eighth, Denningmann wasn’t going to let St. Peters mount a rally in the ninth inning.

After Sam Melliere walked Taylor Aldridge with one out in the top of the ninth, Spencer Pugh entered for St. Charles and struck out the final two batters to pick up Post 312’s first save of the season.

“I thought Spencer did a great job,” Denningmann said. “I told him and Sam that if anybody gets on, he was going in and I asked Spencer, ‘You ready to save one.’

“He said, ‘Yep.’”

Post 312 now readies itself for tonight’s matchup with O’Fallon West, which was unbeaten in District 9 play heading into Tuesday night’s matchup with Wentzville. Post 312 has just one loss in eight league games.

“We’re set for (tonight),” Denningmann said before announcing that Brett will get the start. “He’s been my best pitcher so far.

“It’s going to be a classic game.”