Notre Dame defeats Valle Catholic 7-3 in baseball opener

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Top-ranked Notre Dame began defense of its Class 3 state baseball championship with a 7-3 victory over reigning Class 2 champion and top-ranked Valle Catholic in both teams' season openers Friday evening at Yanks Field.

Tennessee-Martin baseball signee Colton Young and Tanner Hiett both overcame shaky performances on the mound thanks to timely hitting by the Bulldogs throughout the game, which featured five collegiate baseball recruits.

Young earned the victory despite giving up a home run in the first inning. It was the only run he allowed in five innings of work, allowing just three hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

Hiett inherited a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the host Warriors torched him for four hits -- including two doubles -- to cut Notre Dame's lead to 4-3.

The Bulldogs gave Hiett some breathing room with three insurance runs in the seventh when Jimmy Obermark and Ethan Essner both singled to start the inning.

"I challenged those two," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "If you remember last year, those two were DH for. They flipped-flopped depending on who was pitching. I just told them that I would love nothing more than for them to prove I was an idiot last year and should have been playing you guys every day. I added that we need them at the top of the lineup to set the table. Ethan struggled in his first two times at the plate, then he did his job from there with the home run and single."

Young then walked to load the bases, which chased relief pitcher Nathan Geile, a Jefferson College signee.

Trenton St. Cin singled in Obermark for a 5-3 lead then Mark Hagedorn's sacrifice fly scored Essner, who almost was tagged out at the plate, but the catcher dropped the ball.

Young scored on a passed ball in which he slid under the tag for a 7-3 lead.

But the drama was not over yet.

Hiett found himself in more trouble in the bottom half of the final frame after two quick singles, but the Bulldogs caught a huge break on the second hit when a Valle runner ran through coach Judd Naeger's stop sign at third base and got caught in a hot box for the first out of the inning.

Hiett then induced a fly ball to right field and a grounder to his shortstop to end the game.

"We got lucky there in the end," Graviett said. "We caught a big break there and got some breaks offensively before that. We're missing two guys in our lineup with some pop who can do some damage, so this was nice. It was a competitive game that no one knew who was going to win until the end. It kept the crowd on the edge."

Both squads, which are ranked first in their respective classifications in the MHSBCA preseason poll and have numerous players returning from their state-title teams, came out swinging early.

Geile belted the game's first home run off Young over the right-field wall for a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

That lead didn't last long as the Bulldogs took the lead for good in the second inning. Hagedorn, a Parkland Community College (Champaign, Ill.) signee, returned the favor with his two-run homer over the right-field wall that scored St. Cin.

Essner added his own two-run blast that scored Obermark in the fifth to give Notre Dame a 4-1 advantage.

Essner finish 2 for 4 with two runs scored. St. Cin was 2 for 3 with a walk. Obermark had a hit as the leadoff man and scored twice.

Jefferson College recruit Michael Greminger, who's been recovering all preseason from appendicitis suffered before the district basketball tournament, took the loss. The starter allowed two earned runs on two hits and two walks, while striking out four of the 13 Bulldogs he faced in three innings of work.

"We knew it was going to be a ballgame either way," Graviett said. "A lot of fans here. I think they were excited about who they were seeing on the mound for both teams, but it looked like it was going to be a home run derby, one of those 18-16 games the way things started out. They both settled down from there."

Notre Dame 022 000 3 -- 7 7 2

Valle 100 002 0 -- 3 8 2

WP -- Colton Young. LP -- Mike Greminger. HR -- Ethan Essner (ND), Mark Hagedorn (ND), Nathan Geile (V). 2B -- Geile (V), Aaron Basler (V). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Essner 2-4, Trenton St. Cin 2-3; Valle: Geile 2-4. Records -- Notre Dame 1-0, Valle 0-1.