By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph’s baseball team suffered a 3-2 loss in the Class 2A IESA state quarterfinals to Brown County on Friday (Sept. 30) in Peoria.
Brown County – which went on to finish second at state – scored twice in the top of the first inning and extended its lead to 3-0 before the Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Finn Miller and Ryder VanMeenen scored the St. Joseph runs.
Collecting hits for the Panthers were Willis Canamore, Jameson Ennis, Eli Garrett and Tripp Palmer. Palmer also drove in a run.
Canamore pitched the first three innings and took the loss. He allowed two hits and two runs while walking five and striking out six. Nolan Franzen worked the final four innings, yielding two hits and one run. Franzen walked no one and fanned five hitters.
St. Joseph ends the season with a 19-6 record.
For the season, six squad members finished with batting averages above .300, led by Garrett (.442).
Other team leaders were Canamore (.438), Miller (.427), Ennis (.406), Palmer (.365) and Cam Buskirk (.316).
Canamore had a team-high 27 RBI, one more than Garrett. Miller scored the most runs (36), followed by Canamore (31). Miller (24) and Palmer (18) were the leaders in stolen bases.
Canamore had the most extra-base hits (13), followed by Garrett (11). Canamore slugged a team-best three home runs.
Canamore, Garrett and Miller all had 11 games with two, or more, hits.
Among the pitchers, Canamore (7-1) led the team in wins as well as earned run average (1.54). Franzen and Buskirk each posted three wins. Finishing with two wins each were Miller and VanMeenen.
Canamore averaged more than two strikeouts per inning, fanning 75 batters in 36 1/3 innings. Franzen was next with 35 strikeouts in 34 innings.
