COLLINSVILLE - The Marquette Catholic baseball team played a couple of difficult opponents on Thursday and Saturday afternoon. The Explorers lost a pair of games late this week, dropping an 11-2 decision to Father McGivney Catholic in a Gateway Metro Conference game Thursday at Griffins Field, then lost to Collinsville on Saturday afternoon at Fletcher Field 13-5.
The junior varsity Explorers and Kahoks played in the 10 a.m. opener of the two games. Both teams hit the ball hard in each game. Photos are included from both games.
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In the game on Saturday, the Explorers took a 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the second, with the Kahoks coming up with three in the home half to go ahead 3-1. Marquette came back with three runs of their own in the top of the third, only to see Collinsville score twice in the bottom half to back in front 5-4. The Explorers pushed across a run in the top of the fourth inning to go into a 5-5 tie, but the Kahoks scored seven times in the bottom of the inning, then added another run in the fifth to take the 13-5 win.
Sternickle, Garner, Sherman and Mitchell all had hits for the Explorers against the Kahoks.
In the game on Thursday against the Griffins, McGivney scored two runs in the bottom of the first to take an early 2-0 lead, with the Explorers tying the game with two runs in the top of the second. The Griffins took the lead for good in the home half with a run, then scored six more runs in the third and once each in the fourth and sixth to take the 11-2 win.
Will Fahnestock had two hits and drove in the Explorers' only two runs, while Sean Mitchell, Logan Sternickle and Owen Williams also had hits. Joey Reinkemeyer struck out four while on the mound as one of four pitchers used on the day.
Marquette is now 10-8 on the season and has a very busy upcoming week ahead, starting with home games on Monday against Columbia, Hillsboro on Wednesday and East Alton-Wood River on Thursday, with all games starting at 4:30 p.m. The Explorers then play a doubleheader at Breese Mater Dei Catholic on Saturday, with the start times 10 a.m. and 12 noon, then finish the week with a game against Rochester at Busch Stadium, starting at approximately 4:15 p.m.