By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph-Ogden’s baseball team recovered from a four-run deficit after four innings on Thursday (May 6) at Rantoul and earned an 8-7 victory.
Avian Gerdes, who hasn’t allowed an earned run in four outings, pitched three innings of one-hit relief and captured the win. He walked one and struck out three.
Hayden Brazelton and Isaiah Immke each laced two hits to spearhead the offense. Crayton Burnett, Keaton Nolan and Ty Pence all scored two runs.
On Saturday (May 8), Burnett led the Spartans to victories in both games of its own round-robin invitational.
He fired a five-inning no-hitter in the opener, pitching his third consecutive shutout in a 10-0 win over Decatur St. Teresa.
In the second game, Burnett drilled a walk-off hit with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring Xander Rieches, in a 2-1 conquest of Paxton-Buckley-Loda.
Burnett and Tyler Altenbaumer were the only SJ-O athletes with hits in each game. Altenbaumer belted three doubles in the first game and stole three bases for the day. He ended 6-for-7 at the plate.
SJ-O managed just five hits in the opener and Altenbaumer collected four of them. He also scored three runs and drove in three runs. Brazelton scored twice.
Burnett was 2-for-4 in the second game. SJ-O’s first run against PBL was scored when Rieches knocked in Coby Miller.
Zach Martinie earned the second-game win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. He walked no one and fanned one batter.
The Spartans (15-2) return to action on Monday (May 10) at home against Rantoul. SJ-O pitchers have tossed no-hitters in three of the team’s last 13 games.
