|
By Curtis Duncan
Jeff Thomas of St. Mary's has become accustomed to getting big hits in key situations this season for the Dragons. On Tuesday afternoon, Thomas got his biggest hit of the game in the clutch. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Thomas dinked a two-out single down near the foul line in short right field, chasing home Dan Boeckelmann as St. Mary's knocked off Clayton, 5-4, in a battle of area small school baseball powers at Heine Meine Field.
Coming from behind to win has become commonplace for the Dragons in most games this season.
"We've been doing this pretty much all this year," said St. Mary's coach Ed Perniciaro, Sr. "The majority of those victories we've had have been come-from-behind [victories]. We know we have to scrap and play hard throughout the whole ballgame, and [these are] the results we've [had] all year."
St. Mary's, ranked number two in the Post-Dispatch small school poll, moved 11-1 with the win. Fifth-ranked Clayton dropped to 7-2.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Dragons broke on top. Joe Simokaitis doubled home Derek Scellin, making it 1-0. Scellin singled to lead off the inning.
Clayton bounced back to tie it at 1-1 in the top of the third as Brian Kennedy scored on Derek Frost's grounder to first base.
An inning later, Clayton pulled ahead with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth.
Lee Laskowski ripped a clutch two-run single with two outs, putting the Greyhounds up, 3-1. That lead would not last long, as the Dragons responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Simokaitis started the rally with a
|
|
