Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
ALTON – The Marquette Catholic High School baseball team played Bunker Hill Wednesday afternoon in a two-game series. The Explorers won the first game in Bunker Hill by a score of 10-0 on April 4. On Wednesday night (April 6) the two teams met again, but this time at Gordon Moore. Marquette ended up with the same result with an impressive score of 16-1 over the Minutemen.
With the two wins, the Explorers improve their season record to 9-5.
Wednesday night's contest only required four innings, per the mercy rule. Marquette started piling on runs though in the first with a seven-run inning.
Things got started when junior Hayden Garner doubled. He went 3-4 on the day and had 2 RBI’s. Junior Hayden Sherman singled to advance Garner to third before Garner took off to home after a wild pitch. His run got it all started.
Junior Myles Paniagua had himself a day with two hits, two RBI’s and two runs. It was his single that scored Shaun Ferguson who was pinch-running for Sherman and make it 2-0. Then, junior Charlie Fahnestock tripled and scored Paniagua to make it 3-0. Fahnestock had two hits, two runs and an RBI and later scored off another wild pitch to boost the lead to 4-0.
Before long the Explorers were up 12-0 after three innings. The Minutemen broke the no-hitter and shutout when they put their only run on the board in the top of the fourth, but it wasn’t enough.
Marquette scored four more runs in the fourth to make it 16-1 and end the game via mercy rule.
Explorers’ head coach Tim Fahnestock was happy with his team's ability to bounce back after a 9-6 loss against CM, a contest in which they led 6-2 before allowing the comeback.
His side outscored Bunker Hill 26-1 over the course of two games. He mentioned that all but one active player had a hit in Wednesday’s game and that his team was swinging the bats really well. Overall, Marquette had 19 hits on the day.
Sherman started on the mound for Marquette and picked up two K’s through two innings. Senior Darrius Walker pitched the other two innings also picking up two strikeouts. Walker picked up two hits and three RBI’s as well to help out offensively. Coach Fahnestock was also pleased with his team’s two pitchers.
The Explorers will be back in action today (April 7) against Jerseyville at 6:30 p.m. from Lloyd Hopkins Field at Gordon Moore Park. They play another home game tomorrow against Granite City starting at 4:30 p.m.
“I hope the guys I put out there continue to throw strikes and we play clean baseball,” Fahnestock said. “The kids should be up and ready to go.”
More like this:
