St. Vincent takes advantage of walks in 14-4 victory over Leopold

St. Vincent batters stood at the plate, refusing to help out Leopold's freshman.

Wildcats relief pitcher Ryan Davis walked the first three batters he faced and all three scored as the Indians blew open a close game.

St. Vincent scored six runs in the fifth inning and kept piling on for the 14-4 victory Thursday in Leopold. The Indians took advantage of five walks and three hits in the decisive fifth inning.

"Obviously you're taking," St. Vincent sophomore Matt Hotop said. "If a pitcher is not throwing strikes, you're taking, waiting for your pitch. You're going to drive it when you get your pitch."

St. Vincent sophomore Justin L'Hote delivered a two-run double that one-hopped the fence in right-center field to close his team's scoring in the fifth.

"I was just looking for my pitch to hit," L'Hote said. "He wasn't throwing a lot of strikes so I was sitting fastball and I got it."

L'Hote's double chased Davis from the mound. Davis lasted five batters and didn't record an out. Left-hander Clayton Stoverink came on and retired the next two batters to end the inning with St. Vincent leading 11-4.

"My freshman, he's a good pitcher but he just wasn't in it today," Leopold catcher Eric Fluchel said. "Then my lefty, he had it. He was just slow getting started, but he was there."

St. Vincent tacked on one run in the sixth and two in the seventh. The game marked the end of the regular season for the Indians, who open district play Monday against Scott City. The Indians hope to carry the momentum from Thursday's game into the playoffs.

"It's just confidence, that's all it is," L'Hote said. "It's a big game of confidence. Hopefully we can pull it over to districts. Hopefully we can shock some people in districts and play well."

St. Vincent used the game as a tuneup, even stealing a base and sacrifice bunting twice in the seventh inning despite a considerable lead.

"Heading into districts, it's a good confidence builder and we really needed it," said Hotop, who earned the win in relief.

The Wildcats have one game left before their postseason begins. They play at Saxony Lutheran today, which the team considers its chance to work out any kinks.

"What we definitely have to do is work on our defense a little bit," Fluchel said. "Our defense was decent tonight. Our offense was decent. We have to work on getting better hits, find the holes and put them through the holes."

Leopold faces Advance in its district opener Monday. Leopold coach Matt Britt said he'll keep his main pitchers off the mound in today's regular-season finale.

"The guys we're planning on throwing in districts threw maybe a little bit [against St. Vincent], but they're not going to throw [against Saxony]," Britt said. "We're starting to get that lined up and at least think about it and get some final decisions made."

St. Vincent 212 061 2 -- 14 14 0

Leopold 103 000 0 -- 4 6 3

WP -- Matt Hotop. LP -- Cody Van de Ven. 2B -- Darren VanGennip (L), Cody Van de Ven (L), Dustin Thiele (L), Darin Yamnitz (St. V), Greg Rellegert (St. V), Justin L'Hote (St. V). 3B -- Darin Yamnitz (St. V). Multiple hits -- St. Vincent, Adam Buchheitt 3-4, Matt Hotop 3-4, Justin L'Hote 3-4, Greg Rellegert 2-4, Darin Yamnitz 2-4; Leopold, Darren VanGennip 2-3, Cody Van de Ven 2-3. Records -- St. Vincent 6-13-1, Leopold 10-6.