ALTON – Brady McAfee had his stuff going good for Marquette Catholic Friday afternoon.
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McAfee gave up just one hit and retired the last 13 hitters he faced in a row before yielding to Nick Messinger and Liam Maher as the Explorers blanked Metro East Lutheran 6-0 in a Prairie State Conference game at Gordon Moore Park/Lloyd Hopkins Field; Marquette went to 6-5 overall, 1-0 in the PSC; the Knghts dropped to 1-7 overall, 0-2 in the league.
“Brady was very effective; he threw the ball really well,” said Explorer coach Tim Fahnestock. “He did good; he needs to get ahead in the count and work that way and stop getting 3-2s and things like that, but he made the adjustments today and threw the ball really well.
“He had some nasty stuff today; it's good to see Brady take the ball and get a conference win.”
The Explorer offense took advantage of some situations that were created by putting the ball in play, Fahnestock said. “We put the ball in play when we had the chance and played good defensively; we made good decisions. It was a good game for us to get healthy and it was a nice day finally to play baseball. I think we've got more (rain) coming in next week, so it's important to get these games in.”
The game broke open in the bottom of the fifth when Marquette put up four runs to extend the lead to 6-0. “They started timing (MEL pitcher Jake) Jump a little better and our defense wasn't really great, to be honest with you,” said Knight coach Matt Pomerantz. “There are some things we've got to work on.”
The recent weather that has kept teams from being able to practice or play has affected the Knights, Pomerantz thought. “It has,” Pomerantz said of the weather-related problems. “We haven't really been outside as much as we've liked to be because of the rainouts – it's been difficult in that aspect.
“We could have played a better game defensively and offensively – our two hits came from Eli Jacobs and we had 14 strikeouts from the pitchers as well. We've got a lot of work to do in the realm of hitting; things happen in the game of baseball when you put the ball in play and it didn't happen today.”
Pomerantz gave credit to McAfee's performance on the mound. “McAfee threw really, really well; his fastball was being located, he had our guys off-balance with his slider as well too,” Pomerantz said. “We were helping him out by swinging at bad pitches and not recognizing it.”
Marquette scored twice in the first when Zach Weinman got a one-out double and went around to third on a pair of walks that loaded the bases and scored on a Garrett Weiner walk that kept the bases loaded; Adam Harrison then grounded to second, but Maher scored to put the Explorers up 2-0 through the first inning.
McAfee then settled in and struck out the side; he would exit the game going into the top of the sixth with nine strikeouts on the day.
Four more runs came home in the fifth for Marquette, highlighted by a two-run double from Jayce Maag; Messinger took over in the sixth and wound up loading the bases, but struck out two to end the inning; Maher took over in the seventh and gave up only a walk before striking out Darion Brooks to end the game.
Weinman was 2-for-4 on the day with the double on the day and a run scored; Maher scored two runs, Weiner was 1-for-2 with a RBI, Harrison 1-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored and Kyle Begnel was 1-for-2 on the day. Jacobs had MEL's only hits on the day, both singles.
McAfee got the win, conceding a hit and fanning nine; Jump took the loss, giving up four earned runs and on six hits while dismissing four by strikeout.
The Explorers play a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader at Cahokia today, then go to Mount Olive Monday afternoon; the Knights are at Marissa Monday afternoon, then host Mount Olive Wednesday.
