Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s’ Mark Anderson heads to pitch during a nonconference baseball game against Mankato Loyola on Friday at ISG Stadium in Mankato.
Written by Ali Selvey
aselvey@nujournal.com
MANKATO — Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s did a lot of things right, beating Mankato Loyola in a called sixth inning Friday in a nonconference baseball game against Mankato Loyola at ISG Field.
The team had a total of 12 hits on offense and didn’t make a single error on defense, two things that rarely lead to a loss in baseball.
But what really stood out in this game was Mark Anderson’s performance on the mound, as the fastball pitcher had 10 strikeouts and allowed just one hit in the game.
Loyola had never been blank in a game until facing Anderson and the Knights, and the 10-0 loss was the Crusaders’ biggest loss of the season by five points.
“I just stuck to my fastball.” Anderson said. “I’m trying to throw strikes. I walked three guys, so I’m going to have to work a little harder, but if I can stay in the zone, I think I’ll be good. Find my offspeed late in the game. Please, work on it when the count goes up.”
Anderson also played a key role in St. Mary’s offense, going 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Merrick Mathiowetz was 3-for-3 with an RBI, a double and an RBI, and Brandon Schmitz was 2-for-4 with two hits and an RBI. Tyler Mathiowetz added a home run and Jon Peterman had a triple, a stolen base and two runs scored.
“It’s mainly about having a good approach at the plate.” Anderson said of the team’s offensive success. “We’ve emphasized that all year long. When you have runners in scoring position, you have to make extra base hits and take advantage of the advantage on the bases. We’ve been great at that. I think I did my job and stole some bases and got some extra points when I wasn’t ready. It was mostly my approach at the plate and getting the ball in play with two strikes. We just have to move the players.”
Putting the ball in play was key to the Knights’ success, as the Knights had only two strikeouts as a team and the Crusaders defense committed two errors.
After a scoreless first inning, Anderson singled to start the second inning and moved to third base on Merrick Mathiowetz’s single. Anderson then homered on a balk from Loyola pitcher TJ O’Malley. St. Mary’s continued in the fourth inning when Talan Helgett homered on Anderson’s single and scored on Kam Cossack’s sacrifice fly.
St. Mary’s got a big break in the fifth inning, increasing their lead to 8-0 with Schmitz, Anderson, Merrick Mathiowetz and Kessler Severson all scoring RBIs, scoring five runs in the first inning. Tyler Mathiowetz led off the sixth inning with a hit to left field that hit the wall and sprinted home to break the in-park home run relay. Peterman advanced to third base with a similar hit and was brought home by Schmitz’s single.
Anderson’s no-hitter was lost in the bottom of the sixth inning when Loyola’s Christian Theuninck singled into shallow right field, but Anderson recovered and struck out the next two batters to end the game.
St. Mary’s (16-3) is currently waiting to find out who it will play in the first round of Section 2A playoffs.
Anderson believes pitching performances like this one will be key to the Knights making the playoffs.
“I think it’s pitching.” He said. “We have to live with our pitching and get some points here and there. I think we’ll have to hit a little more in the playoffs, but I think we’re doing well there.”
