Anderson, Knights curb Crusaders in six

Staff photo by Ari Selvey
Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Mark Anderson winds up for a pitch during a nonconference baseball game against Mankato Loyola Friday at ISG stadium in Mankato.

By Ari Selvey

aselvey@nujournal.com

MANKATO — Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s did a lot of things well in its 10-0 nonconference baseball win over Mankato Loyola in six innings Friday at ISG Field.

The team collected 12 total hits on offense and did not commit a single error on defense, two things which rarely lead to losses in prep baseball.

However, it was Mark Anderson’s performance on the mound that really stood out in the game, as the fastballer struck out 10 and allowed just one hit in the game.

Loyola had not been blanked in a game prior to meeting Anderson and the Knights, and the 10-0 loss was the biggest deficit on the season by five runs for the 10-7 Crusaders.

“I was just sticking with my fastball,” Anderson said. “Trying to throw strikes. I walked three guys, so I gotta work on that a little bit, but if I can just stay in the zone, it just seems to work for me. Find some off-speed later in the game. Work on when I get up in counts and stuff like that.”

Anderson was also a key part of St. Marys’ offense, going 3 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Merrick Mathiowetz was 3 for 3 with an RBI, a double and a run scored, while Brandon Schmitz was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Tyler Mathiowetz added a home run and Jon Petermann had a triple, a stolen base and two runs scored.

“Mainly it’s just having a good approach at the plate,” Anderson said of the team’s offensive success. “We’ve emphasized it all year. When we have runners in scoring position, we have to get that extra-base hit, just to get the man, and then take advantage of things on the bases. I thought we did a great job at that, stole some bases, took some extra runs when they weren’t ready. It’s just mainly the approach at the plate, gotta put the ball in play with two strikes, and just gotta move guys around.”

Putting the ball in play was a key part of the Knights’ success, as they only had two strikeouts as a team and the Crusaders defense committed two errors.

After a scoreless first inning, Anderson singled to start the second and got to third on a single by Merrick Mathiowetz. Anderson then got home on a balk by the Loyola pitcher, T.J. O’Malley. St. Mary’s continued the scoring in the fourth, as Talan Helget took home on a single by Anderson, who then scored on a sacrifice fly by Kam Kosak.

St. Mary’s broke the game wide open in the fifth, scoring five in an inning where Schmitz, Anderson, Merrick Mathiowetz and Kessler Severson all collected an RBI to stretch the lead to 8-0. Tyler Mathiowetz opened the sixth with a hit to left field that hit the wall, racing all the way home to beat the relay for an inside-the-park home run. Petermann followed that up with a similar hit that got him all the way to third, where he was brought home with a single by Schmitz.

Anderson’s no-hitter was lost in the bottom of the sixth when Loyola’s Christian Theuninck singled to shallow right field, but Anderson rallied to strike out the next two batters to close out the game.

St. Mary’s (16-3) now awaits playoff seeding to see who they face in the first round of the Section 2A playoffs.

Anderson believes pitching performances like the one in this game will be the key to the Knights making a deep playoff run.

“I think it’s pitching,” he said. “We have to live off our pitching, score a few runs here and there. I think we have to hit a little better in the playoffs, but I think we’re good there.”