ST. LOUIS – The first home run of the season for
Aaris Stolte could have not come at a better time for Maryville baseball. On a 1-2 count in the bottom of the tenth, Stolte would explode on a pitch 350 feet to right field, walking off the Lewis Flyers in the series opener on route to a 4-3 victory at Weber Field.
The Saints pitching was elite as well, with
Blake Sivak picking up his fifth win out of the pen after tossing three innings of scoreless action.
Jack Meyer led the Saints with a 3-4 performance with a pair of doubles to move his Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) total to 16, first in the league. Justin Gorksi was the RBI leader, scoring runs in the fifth and the ninth to force extras.
HOW IT HAPPENED
A Meyer RBI double in the first was the lone run the Saints could muster in the first four games. The first-career triple by
Greyson Rathgeb in the fifth resulted in a run an at bat later as Gorski ripped one up the middle to cut the Flyers lead to 3-2.
That score said put from there, until the Saints got it going in the bottom of the ninth.
Tim Leark, who got his first career start, walked to put the tying run aboard, with a
Cooper Walkoff pinch-hit single that sent Leark to second.
Gorski then did the job from there, ripping a first pitch heater over the head of the third basemen to tie the game and force extras.
The Flyers were inches away from scoring in the top of the tenth, but a runner's interference with a runner at third ended the inning and erased the Flyers run.
Stolte wasted zero time in the bottom of the tenth, homering to end the ballgame.
HEAR FROM THE SAINTS
Stolte on his home run….
"Coming in late, definitely tough to prepare yourself that quickly, but making a couple plays in the field got me going a bit. We were scuffling as an offense and scrapped back there in the bottom of the ninth. I just went up there trying to compete in the 10th and get on base to start something for the boys and was able to get the barrel on one and sent it."
Head Coach Pat Evers on the gritty win…
"It's great on the pitching side to keep it where it was and to keep us within striking distance… obviously big for Tim [Leark], a guy who's not gotten many chance yet, to put together some quality at bats and work a walk in the ninth and then
Cooper Walkoff, just two guys doing a lot with the limited opportunities they've been given, obviously great job by Gorski to keep that going. Stolte stepped up in a big way when Jace went down and got the big hit of the day… its nice to see a bunch of different people stepping up."
UP NEXT
The Saints look to keep the Flyers grounded tomorrow for the series doubleheader at Weber starting at 1 p.m.
