Santaluces Edges Summit In HSBN Game Of The Week

Santaluces’ Stephan Patti slides into home as the ball gets away from Summit catcher Dakota Julylia.

Santaluces and Summit Christian played Saturday’s HSBN Game of the Week as if a playoff berth were on the line.

Although nothing actually was at stake, the teams matched each other step for step through the first four innings before Santaluces put its foot down just a little harder in the fifth inning, scoring three runs to go ahead and hold on for a 5-4 win.

Stephan Patti ripped an RBI single to bring in Justin Tworek for the go-ahead run. Dylan Love, who finished 3-for-3 with a run and RBI, singled to lead off the inning and came in on Tworek’s single to center field. Sean Steele singled as well and scored on a misplayed bunt.

Summit (4-7) opened the scoring in the second as Scott Murphy tripled to score Colin Smith, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI as well.

The Chiefs (6-4) came right back with a run in their half of the second. Love’s infield base hit scored Patti, who reached with a single.

The baton was passed to Summit, and they responded with a run in the third. Brandon Swass came in when Jesse Barton hit into a fielder’s choice.

Justin Tworek comes in for the go-ahead run in the fifth inning for Santaluces.

Right on cue, Summit came back with a run in the bottom of the third. Troy Stark led off with a double and scored on Steele’s RBI groundout.

“I knew Summit Christian was going to be a tough school, and I had to bring my A game otherwise they were going to hit me all over the place,” Santaluces starter Cody Wager said. “I had the mentality of a district game. I wanted to come out here and get a W for sure. I knew it was a big stage, and it’s kind of putting the pressure on me before districts. If I could perform well under pressure, then that’s the key to victory. We didn’t give up the entire game. We were down, we were up, we were down, we were up. And we had solid defense tonight and solid offense tonight, and that’s the key to winning.”

Patti said there was no let-up in the Chiefs, and that led them to win.

“We kept the intensity high and just stuck together as a team and came through,” Patti said. “It definitely gives us confidence going into next week. We had a tough loss last night, but it gave us the bounce back for the upcoming games.”

Patti said the game being billed as the HSBN Game of the Week had the players energized.

“Coming into it, we were all really hyped,” Patti said. “We were looking forward to this game out of all of them all week.”

Santaluces Manager Nick Franco was happy with how his team came back a night after a tough district loss.

Cody Wager pitched a solid game for Santaluces.

“I’m really pleased with how they responded to last night. We lost a tough district game last night to Royal Palm in 10 innings 4-3,” Chiefs Manager Nick Franco said. “Our goal every day is to try to get better for the playoffs. Even though we lost on Tuesday and we lost last night, I just keep giving them the thought process of staying with it and work hard every day. I told them we need to try to correct the mistakes that we made last night to be able to win tonight against a good Summit team. I told them they’re a good team and we need to play it like it’s a regular game, like it’s a district game, so we can be ready for next week. We have Park Vista next week and Forest Hill, another district game.”

Franco praised the pitching of Wager.

“His location was a little off tonight, but he pitched well,” Franco said. “Usually he’s really got pinpoint control, but he was missing spots tonight. But he battled through it. He has a bulldog mentality.”

Summit Christian Manager John Drouin said although his team executed in key situations, ultimately it just wasn’t the Saints’ night.

“It was a good ballgame. We just came up a dollar short,” Drouin said. “We got the hits when we needed to, but we just came up short. But it was a good game. I like playing Santaluces. I know the coaches, I know all their kids.”

As part of the pregame festivities for the big game, each team selected someone to represent the school in throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. Santaluces picked Jack Buzek, who coached the Chiefs from 1990 to 2005, and Summit Christian chose John Costa, a former player who helped the Saints to the state title in 2011.

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