By Scott A. Kolb
Post-Bulletin, Austin MN
Good pitching and error-free defense led to the fourth straight Southeast Conference win for the Lyle/Austin Pacelli baseball team.
Cody Meyer had it going on the pitching mound Tuesday afternoon and posted 13 strikeouts in a shutout win over Spring Grove. Meyer scattered three hits in the 6-0 win for Lyle/Pacelli at Marcusen Park.
"We played fantastic defense, and Cody had his stuff going," L/P coach Steve Baumann said. "We played our first error-free game of the season and that kind of defense makes the old coach feel pretty good."
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This was a relatively close game, until the L/P Athletics broke it open with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. L/P led the whole way after scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning.
In the initial rally, Mike Lonergan singled with two outs and then stole second base. Cody Meyer followed with a RBI single to help his cause with the early lead.
Adding to their lead, the Athletics tacked on another run in the bottom of the third. The same two hitters did the damage for L/P. Lonergan laced a double and Cody Meyer followed with a RBI triple.
The L/P hitters then put the score out of reach with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Carter Guthmiller singled to lead off the inning, and went to second on a fielder’s choice grounder from Skyler Meyer.
After the second out of the inning occurred, Randy Klouse hit an RBI double to make it 3-0. Colin Sheehan next singled to put runners at first and third with two outs.
Nate Williamson kept the decisive rally going with an RBI single. The Athletics then pulled off the old double steal and moved both runners into scoring position. Lonergan capped off the rally with a two-run double and this was more than enough run support for Meyer.
"The guys hit the ball well, and we’re still unbeaten on our home field," Baumann concluded. "It was a good pitchers duel for the first three innings, but then we came up with the hits at the right time."
Lyle/Pacelli (4-3, 4-1 SEC) tries to run its conference winning streak to five games on Friday in Glenville.
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LYLE/PACELLI 6, SPRING GROVE 0
Spring Grove 000 000 0 — 0 3 1
Lyle/Pacelli 101 400 x — 6 11 0
Spring Grove: LP: Morken 6 IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 11 H, 1 BB, 8 K.
Lyle/Pacelli: Colin Sheehan 2-4, run; Nate Williamson 1-4, run, RBI; Mike Lonergan 3-3, 2 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Cody Meyer 2-2, 3B, 2 RBIs; Carter Guthmiller 2-3, run, RBI; Randy Klouse 1-3, 2B,run, RBI. WP: Cody Meyer 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 HB, 13 K.
