Bethlehem Academy Baseball Remains Undefeated

It wasn't easy, and I always say anything worthwhile in life shouldn't be.

The Faribault Bethlehem Academy Cardinals had multiple-run leads twice, but had to hold on to beat Waterville-Elysian-Morristown on Thursday night at William J. Grose Park in Waterville 11-10.

Senior Anthony VanThomme improved his record to 2-0, but it wasn't a walk in the park. VanThomme breezed through the first three innings throwing 20 pitches.

During that time, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead, with the lone run that scored being a strikeout that made the basepaths when the catcher couldn't corral the third strike.

Designated hitter Alex Dunn scored that first run and Bethlehem Academy added another run in the fourth inning. VanThomme smacked a one-out double and advanced to third on a throwing error after the Bucs tried to pick him off second base.  He then scored on a wild pitch and the Cardinals were ahead 2-0.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown answered with a pair of runs in the fourth inning thanks to a pair of Cardinal errors. Dalton Grose also had an RBI double. Grose pitched for the Buccaneers and started the game throwing gas.

All six outs in the first two innings were strikeouts and it appeared the Cardinal hitters were unable to catch up with the Grose fastball.

That changed in the fifth inning when Bethlehem Academy had five hits in a row and scored four runs to take a 6-2 lead. Peyton Glenzinski hammered a one-out double and scored on a Kollin Hanson 0-2 count single. Isaac VanThomme followed with a single and Hanson scored on an RBI single by Ben Jandro. VanThomme scored on a passed ball and Anthony VanThomme ended the hit parade with an RBI single of his own.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown collected three runs on two hits thanks in part to another Cardinal error and back to back walks.

The score was then 6-5.

In the top of the seventh, the Cardinals would add five more runs and would need every single one of them.

The inning started with a Kollin Hanson double. Isaac VanThomme hit a screamer single and head coach Scott Hanson held up Kollin at third base because the ball was hit too hard for him to score. Ben Jandro then delivered his second RBI single of the game.

Brendan Trump would get an RBI by walking with the bases loaded and Glenzinski would hit an RBI single.

The Cardinals headed into the bottom of the seventh with an 11-5 lead.

VanThomme would enter the bottom of the seventh with just 83 pitches thrown thanks to those first three innings with 20 total pitches but appeared to tire a bit. Balls were left up and he walked the first two batters he faced.

The first was Grose, who advanced to second on a wild pitch and would score on an error. Tyler Tegmeier had an RBI double and scored on a Brody Boran double. Mitch Wolter then tripled in Boran and the Bucs had the tying run at third with two outs in the bottom of the final inning.

VanThomme was able to tally is fourth strikeout of the game in three pitches, getting Reid Ayers looking to seal the contest for the Cardinals.

The Buccaneers fell to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the Gopher and the Cardinals are 3-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

One of our Faribault State Farm Insurance agents Faribault player of the game was Hanson with a pair of hits and two RBI. He was on base four of the five times he came to the plate.

The other choice was Anthony VanThomme, three for four with a double and two singles and an RBI.

VanThomme finished the game with 115 pitches thrown, 76 of them in the final three innings. He would finish with 72 strikes and had four strikeouts and five walks.

Grose had 16 strikeouts but the Cardinals also got 11 hits in the game.

The Buccaneers would finish with 10 hits.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown stranded eight runners on the bases and five were in scoring position. Faribault Bethlehem Academy had five runners left on base and three were in scoring position.

The Buccaneers host Lake Crystal-Welcome-Memorial on Friday night while the Cardinals entertain Kenyon-Wanamingo at Bell Field.

The Bethlehem Academy game will be on Power 96 Radio and there is an early start to the game. Our coverage begins at 4:15PM.

The Faribault Falcons are still in search of their first win after a 10-0 loss to Owatonna on the road Thursday night in six innings.

Clay Leidall had a career-high 11 strikeouts for the Huskies in his first career shutout.

Owatonna had 10 hits and Faribault managed four.

In other area baseball Thursday night: